Letters of Augustine of Hippo

THE LETTERS OFST. AUGUSTINE

HANDBOOKS OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE

THE LETTERS OFST. AUGUSTINE

BY

W. J. SPARROW-SIMPSON, D.D.

LONDON :

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTINGCHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGENEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1919

CONTENTSCHAP. 1'AGB

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . 7

I. LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION . . 24

II. LETTERS ON PAGANISM . .'

. . 45

III. LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GOO . . . 63

IV. LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS . . 77

V. LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE . .126

VI. LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION -. . .185

VII. LETTERS TO S. JEROME 2l6

VIII. LETTERS TO WOMEN . ..... 255

IX. LETTERS ON THE EUCHARIST .... 276

X. LETTERS' ON DIOCESAN AFFAIRS . . . 301

XI. LETTERS OF THE CLOSING YEARS . . . 319

INDEX . 333

THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

INTRODUCTION

AUGUSTINE'S letters have never been translated into

English as a whole. Large selections have been trans-

lated containing what appeared to the translators themost important. But all such selections are liable to

omit passages of very great importance. And this is

certainly what has happened in the present case. Cun-

ningham's version in the Edinburgh translation of

Augustine's writings is an admirable rendering of the

letters which it gives. But the omissions are manyand serious.

The purpose of the present work is not to translate

but to give such an account of Augustine's life and

thought as may be derived from his letters. A lengthy

correspondence in any controversy is sure to contain a

great deal of repetition. The same illustrations, the

same expositions, the same ideas are certain to be in-

cluded over and over again. Such repetitions are for

the most part avoided in the present work, whichcondenses the contents of the letters and presentstheir principal features.

But since Augustine often refers his correspondentsfor further information to what he has written en a

particular subject in one of his larger treatises, it seemed

necessary for completeness' sake to reproduce in such

cases the main ideas of the teaching to which the Bishoprefers. On no single subject is the whole of Augustine's

teaching necessarily to be found in his letters. But if

7

13 &

8 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

the letters are thus supplemented by what he has taughtelsewhere a fairly full presentation of the great writer's

mind may be obtained.

The letters range over a period of forty-three years.The earliest was written in A.D. 386, the year before his

conversion;

the latest in A.D. 429, the year before

his death. There are 270 letters in the Benedictine

edition. But of these, fifty are addressed to Augustine ;

so that we have only 220 from the Bishop's own pen.And these 220 include one or two official letters of

Councils whose authorship is undoubted.After all, 220 letters in forty-three years does not

seem an unwieldy correspondence. If we omit the

letters written before his consecration this leaves 213

during his episcopate.But then in Augustine's case a letter was often an

elaborate treatise. So great was his wealth of thoughtthat frequently his spring became a river and his river

became a sea. These letters occupy a folio volume

consisting, in Gaume's edition, of 1370 columns.

Moreover, Augustine informs us that he estimated his

writings to extend to 232 treatises, not including letters

or sermons (Letter 224, 2).

Augustine's letters were arranged by the Benedictineeditors as far as possible in the order in which theywere written. But there is a large section of which the

dates are unknown. It has been thought best in the

present summary of the contents to arrange the letters

in groups according to subjects, preserving the chrono-

logical order, as far as possible, within each group.This arrangement has the advantage that Augustine'steaching and development of mind on various doctrines

can be easily followed. It also enables the reader to

see the proportion of his correspondence on the prin-

cipal subjects which absorbed his attention.

At the same time, it is difficult to carry out rigorouslythis method of grouping according to subjects. For

Augustine's correspondents had a way of launching on

INTRODUCTION 9

the Bishop a host of miscellaneous inquiries. This

prevents anything approaching to systematic arrange-ment, if the contents of each letter are to be given, as

they must be, in one place. Biblical expositions againform a convenient group by themselves

;while of course

many an exposition will be found in other divisions.

It has further seemed best to group together by itself

Augustine's correspondence with S. Jerome, althoughthe letters contained in it belong in part to the section onthe doctrine of grace and in part to Biblical exposition.

It is certainly important to retain the chronologicalorder of Augustine's letters within each group, as far as

this might be;because this arrangement enables us to

see the development of his mind and his changes of

opinion. For this great writer changed his opinion onmore subjects than one, and on matters of very great

importance.Three instances of this change have been noted. 1

He changed his opinion about coercion in religion.In a letter written during his priesthood making over-

tures to the Donatists (Letter 23, 7, A.D. 392) he

distinctly says that on the Catholic side there shall be

no appeal to men's fear of the civil power. There is

to be nothing but dispassionate appeal to reason and

Scripture authority. But sixteen years later (Letter 93,

17, A.D. 408) he owns that his original opinion is nowabandoned. The expediency of coercion has been

proved by its results.

He changed his opinion also about predestination.In his earlier period he understood the text,

" Who will

have all men to be saved," as meaning a universal offer

of salvation. But in his later period, that is, from

A.D. 417, he was led, by inferences on the doctrine of

grace and Divine Will, to reject what is the obvious and

natural meaning of the passage quoted, and to deny, in

the interests of a theory of predestination, the existence

1 See Rottmanner in Revue Benedictine, pp. 257-261. 1901.

io THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

of any sincere will on the part of God that all menshall be saved.

He changed his opinion also on the authorship of the

Epistle to the Hebrews. Whereas in the early part of

his career he always ascribes it to S. Paul (cf. DeDiv. Q. Ixxxiii., Ixxv. I

;written in A.D. 389), after the

year 409 he ceases to make that ascription. Thus he

says in one place simply "scriptum est ad Hebraeos."

(Letter 187, 34, A.D. 417.)The letters fall quite easily into certain main divisions:

1. It is natural to group together the letters of the

early period written while he was a layman, and as a

priest : all in fact written before the date of his conse-

cration to the episcopate.2. Next to this may be placed the letters on Pagan-

ism. These form a suitable introduction to his great

reply to Paganism, The City of God,

It would be very natural to suggest that the next

group should be those concerned with Manichaeism;

that form of Oriental Dualism to which Augustine wasau adherent for some nine years, and from which he

escaped with so much difficulty. But it is a singularfact that nothing survives of Augustine's correspond-ence with Manichaeans. There are of course allusions

to the controversy, and cases noted of its intrusion

into the Church, even among the Church's teachers

(cf. Letter 236 and Letter 64, 3). But there is no direct

correspondence with the sect or with its leaders. Thisis all the more remarkable because controversy withthe Manichaeans occupied a very important place in

Augustine's early literary labours. There are his five

works against them which a correspondent called the

Pentateuch against the Manichaeans. There is, above

all, the great treatise in reply to Faustus. But there

is no separate letter to Faustus, nor indeed to anyManichaean leader. It may be that in the later periodof Augustine's episcopate Manichaeisrn had lost its

INTRODUCTION n

strength, or that more urgent controversies absorbed his

attention.

3. Accordingly, passing over the Manichaean discus-

sions, the next group of Augustine's letters is that whichis connected with the Christian doctrine of God. Theseare his replies to Arianism and his exposition of the

doctrine of the Trinity.

4. Next to these may be grouped the very importantseries of letters dealing with African Church divisions :

the Donatist controversy with all its discussions on

validity of Sacraments, on schism, and on the conditions

of ministry. Much in these letters will be found to beof living interest, involving principles of ecclesiastical

unity important for all time.

5. Following on these are grouped the letters on the

doctrine of grace : that subject with which, more than

all others, Augustine was identified.

6. Then there are a number of letters which mayfairly be grouped together as Biblical expositions. It

is admitted, of course, that this arrangement is not

strictly systematic. Letters on interpretation of Scripturewill be found in most other groups. Nevertheless, it is

suitable that examples of Augustine's letters as a Biblical

student should be given by themselves.

7. To this is naturally appended the celebrated corre-

spondence between Augustine and Jerome. It is, of

course, very largely concerned with Biblical interpreta-tion and study. But it forms also a group by itself, verycharacteristic of both these great writers. Also it gainsa great deal by being allowed to tell consecutively its

own story.8. Another series of Augustine's letters which deserve

to be grouped together, especially in view of modern

discussions, is his letters to Women. They will helpto illustrate the position then occupied by educated

women in the Church.

9. Much of Augustine's Sacramental teaching is

scattered over his letters on Donatism. But they are


chiefly concerned with Baptism and Ordination. It

seems well to gather in a special group Augustine'sletters on the Eucharist.

10. From the central act of Christian worship weturn to the field of administration. We come to getan idea of a bishop's occupations, his activities, his

practical duties in the fifth century. An attempt is,

therefore, made to collect the letters on Diocesan affairs.-

n. Lastly comes the natural and inevitable section,

letters concerned with Augustine's closing years.

Instruction on almost all the theological problemsthen agitating the human mind may be found in the

pages of these letters : Paganism, Arianism, Sabellian-

ism, Novatianism, are all represented, as well as Donatismand Pelagianism. It is impossible not to be filled with

profound admiration for the wonderful intellectual activityand comprehensiveness of this great genius. Never wasthere a mind more alert, more sensitive to contemporarymovements, more implicated in the life and thought of

his own time.

Most instructive it is to note the variety of personswho corresponded with him. Large numbers of questionsand difficulties were sent him by all sorts of people.

They certainly never spared him. They pelted himwith whole strings of inquiries. And the patient Bishopseldom spared himself in answering them. Sometimeshe took the initiative and wrote to separatists askingwhat their objections were against unity with the Church

;

or he propounded some dilemmas which he requestedthem to decide

;or he invited them to conference and

discussion. He always seemed alert in cases of con-

version to the Church, strengthening the newcomer bysome exposition of Catholic principles.

Quite a number of his letters are directed to highofficials of the State. This department of his corre-

spondence naturally belongs to the last twenty-five

years of his episcopate. There is Donatus, Proconsul

INTRODUCTION 13

of Africa (Letter 100) ;Generosus occupying a consular

rank in Numidia (Letter 116) ;Marcellinus the Tribune

(Letters 128, 133, 138, 139, 141), whose tragic fate wasone of Augustine's greatest sorrows; Apringius theProconsul (Letter 134); Macedonius Africse Vicarius

(Letter 154, cf. Life by Possidius, 20) ; Caecilian, sus-

pected of being implicated in the judicial murder ofMarcellinus the Tribune (Letter 151) ; Boniface, Countof Africa, whom Augustine instructed in African Church

troubles, and who admitted the Vandals into that un-

happy country, and afterwards vainly tried to drive

them out (Letters 185 and 220); Count Valerius, to

whom Augustine sends a copy of one of his writings

(Letters 200 and 206) ;the Tribune Dulcitius (Letter

204) ;Count Darius (Letter 229), who was sent to Africa

to secure peace, and who asks for a copy of Augustine'sConfessions (Letter 230), which was sent to him (Letter

231); and Count Pascentius, an Arian, with whomAugustine conferred at Carthage, and who went about

boasting that he had refuted the Bishop, and to whomthe Bishop wrote a long and important exposition of

the Catholic Faith (Letter 238).Readers of the letters cannot fail to be impressed with

Augustine's ascendancy among the bishops of his time.

He was the moving spirit in Councils, whether concern-

ing the Donatists or the Pelagians. Official documentsissued by African Councils were composed by him.

Even when (as several times occurs) his name is not

mentioned, the Augustinian authorship is obvious both

in the arguments and in the style. His familiar anti-

thesis, his plays on words, his dogmatic outlook, all are

there. Very significantly we find at the end of one

such document the endorsement of the Primate :

"I,

Aurelius, Bishop of the Catholic Church of Carthage,have signed this letter" (Letter 128).

It was the Pelagian controversy which drew Augustineinto most intimate relations with Rome and its Bishops.We find him giving expositions of the doctrine of grace,


in deferential terms indeed, to Pope Innocent. We find

him delivering Pope Zosimus from a total misappre-hension of the real opinions of Pelagius. We find him

instructing and, after some misgivings, congratulatingthe future Pope Sixtus on his energetic defence of the

traditional faith.

Particularly informing is the recognition at Rome of

Augustine's pre-eminence as a theologian. He receives

Innocent's letters as a member of the Councils of Car-

thage and of Milevis. He receives another letter fromInnocent as one of the five chief African defenders of

the doctrine of Grace. But Innocent went further still.

When he wrote to the Primate of Carthage there was

only one other person to whom a letter was directed,and that other person was the Bishop of Hippo.So far as ecclesiastical status is concerned Augustine

was only Bishop of a very third-rate seaport in aninferior province. He was not the Primate of one of the

African provinces, still less did he occupy the chief placein the African hierarchy. Nevertheless it is he who is

the mind of the African clergy. He is in correspond-ence with all parts of the Church : with John, Bishopof Jerusalem, with Simplician of Milan, with Paulinusin Spain, with Jerome at Bethlehem, with Gaul and

Marseilles, and with Rome.The literature mentioned or quoted in Augustine's

letters is considerable.

Among Pagan writers the favourites are Cicero, Virgiland Terence. Like many another reader since his time,

Augustine was deeply impressed by the famous line :

" Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto."1

(Letter 155.)Horace is also quoted (Letter 143).Reference is made to letters written by Seneca to the

Apostle S.Paul (Letter 153, 14). Among philosophersDemocritus, Plato and Plotinus are mentioned : the last

1 Terence Heaut, 77.

INTRODUCTION 15

repeatedly (Letter 118, 33), as was to be expected,seeing that Augustine's obligations to the Neoplatonistsare obvious everywhere. Porphyry and his impressionson Christianity (Letter 102, 8) ; Apollonius of Tyana,and Apuleius of Madaura are often named (Letter 102,

8), the two latter frequently together. Apuleius beingan African would be familiar to the Pagans with whomAugustine corresponded (Letter 102, 32; Letter 138,

18).In Christian literature frequent reference is made

naturally to S. Cyprian. Tertullian is also mentioned.Seven Scripture expositors are enumerated by Jerome

in a letter to Augustine. They are Origen, Didymus,Apollinaris of Laodicea, Alexander, Eusebius of Emesa,Theodore of Heraclium, and John Chrysostom (Letter 75) .

Augustine makes remarks on these, but without showingany particular knowledge of them (Letter 82). Weknow from other parts of his writings that he was

acquainted with works of S. John Chrysostom. Else-

where four authors are quoted : Ambrose, Jerome,Athanasius and Gregory. It appears, however, that the

last is not, as Augustine supposed, Gregory Nazianzen,nor indeed a Greek writer at all, but a Latin : perhaps,as the Benedictines suggest, Gregory of Elvira in Spain.

1

There is also a reference to Philastrius (Letter 222).But Augustine's favourite author is certainly S.

Ambrose. To appreciate the deep veneration for the

Bishop of Milan which appears repeatedly in Augustine'sletters we must bear in mind the pages of the Confessions.Ambrose was the living embodiment of priestly ideals

;

at once attracting and repelling by his entire unworldli-

ness and self-denying life. It was Ambrose's character

even more than his exposition of the Faith which con-

tributed so largely to Augustine's conversion. No

1 See note by Benedictines to Letter 148, 10. Gaume's edit.

II. 746. A treatise, possibly by Gregory of Elvira, on the OrthodoxFaith against the Divine is printed in Appendix to S. Ambrose, ed.

Migne, ii. 549-568.


wonder we find eager inquiries after some of Ambrose's

writings which Augustine does not yet possess (Letter

31). No wonder he is quoted as a guide and appealedto as an example in matters of practical religion." Ambrosius noster

"is one whose insight is decisive

(Letter 82, 21). Beatus Ambrosius, expounding the

Gospel of S. Luke, lives in Augustine's glowing memories

(Letter 147, 17). "Ambrose that saintly man" is

quoted again, half apologetically, with an assurance that

his opinion is not valued only because through his

ministrations the saving Baptism was bestowed uponAugustine, but for the intrinsic excellence of his exposi-tions (ib. 52). Again

" the aforesaid Bishop of Milan "

is quoted (Letter 148, 12); and the practical questionhow to conduct oneself with regard to unfamiliar practiceswhen worshipping in a church away from home, is settled

at once by appeal to Ambrose's example.A quantity of religious literature of an unorthodox

and debased description found its way to the Bishop'shouse at Hippo. Many a copy of heretical writings wassent for Augustine's opinion, or to induce him to makereply. Many of the documents of the Donatist con-

troversy were in his possession ;so were the writings of

the Pelagians. Reference to these and many a quotationare to be found in the course of the letters. Augustinehas immortalised them by his quotations. There are

also references, although not very numerous, to Apocry-phal writings. One of the strangest of these is a hymnwhich was being circulated by a Spanish sect, the

Priscillianists, who asserted that it had been composedby the Lord Jesus Christ and given to His Apostles onthe night of the Betrayal ; being in fact the hymnreferred to in the Gospel as sung before they went outto the Mount of Olives. A copy of this document wassent by a Spanish Bishop to Augustine for his criticism.

The hymn is as follows :

"I desire to set free and I desire to be set free.

I desire to save and I desire to be saved.

INTRODUCTION 17

desire to be born. Dance all of you.desire to lament. Mourn ye all of you.desire to adorn and I desire to be adorned,am the lamp to thee who seest me.am the door to thee whosoever knocks at me

;

Thou who seest what I do, be silent concerning my works."

(Letter 237.)

Augustine was familiar with these words and saysthat they were common among apocryphal writings.

They were accepted by certain sects which acceptedthe canonical writings also. The Priscillianists whoaccepted them accounted for their omission from the

Canon on the ground that they were kept secret fromthe natural man and reserved for the spiritually minded.

They justified this exclusion by an appeal to the Bookof Tobit, where it is written (xii. 7) :

"It is good to keep

close the secret of a king ;but it is honourable to reveal

the works of God." Accordingly this secret of the king,this "sacramentum regis," was concealed from those

who walked after the flesh, and not after the Spirit.

Augustine points out that this statement implies that

the canonical scriptures are not according to the Spirit.Further he calls attention to the inextricable confusion

in which this theory involved the Priscillianists. Forwhen they proceeded to explain what these mysticsentences mean they quoted texts from the NewTestament to throw light upon them. For examplethe line :

"I desire to set free and I desire to be set free"

was explained by a reference to Galatians v. I, "Standfast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath madeus free." If thus the obscurities of this hymn are to be

explained by the clearer utterances of the New Testa-

ment, what becomes of the Priscillianist theory that the

hymn was excluded from the Canon in order that

spiritual truths should be concealed from the carnallyminded? (Letter 237).

i8 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

Many details concerning the Councils of the Churchare given in Augustine's letters. The famous African

Code of Canons is in process of formation. Councils

held in the time of Cyprian are appealed to as pre-

cedents, and evaded. Much stress is laid on "instituta

majorum" (Letter 36, 2). The different kinds of

Councils are carefully discriminated, and the authority of

each is discussed. An accusation against a presbyter mustbe finally settled by a Council of six Bishops. This wasa Canon of the Council of Carthage in 348 (Letter 65).There were in Africa Provincial Councils. For instance

the Council of Milevis, which was the Council of the

Province of Numidia (Letter 176). There were Councilsof the entire " Africana Ecclesia

"(Letter 22, 2). These

were held under the presidency of the Bishop of Car-

thage as Primate. The Councils of Carthage were very

independent and influential in their dealings with the

Popes, especially with Pope Zosimus. The right of

appeals to Rome was a burning question in the fifth

century, a subject of expostulation, and of careful

restriction. Caecilian Archbishop of Carthage possessedthe right of appeal from the African Council to the

Bishops beyond the seas;

because the Church is not

confined to Africa (Letter 43, n). The ultimate

decision belonged, in the Donatist case, after it had beentried before the Pope and his assessors, to a plenaryCouncil of the Universal Church (Letter 43, 19) ;

that

is to say, to the collective episcopate.The African Church divisions and the action of the

imperial authorities naturally compelled discussion onthe relations between Church and State. We find the

maxim formulated that a Bishop ought not to betried before a proconsular tribunal (Letter 43, 13).

Augustine reminds the Donatists that by this maximthey are self-condemned

;for it was they who made the

appeal to the authority of the State (Letter 43, 13).Doubtless the distinction between the secular and the

spiritual powers was clear enough to a disciple of

INTRODUCTION 19

S. Ambrose. Augustine could certainly never forgetthe principle formulated by the Bishop of Milan that

the Emperor is within the Church but not above it.

Certainly also the author of the treatise on The City

of God was not likely to confuse the State with the

Church. But yet it must be acknowledged that the

appeals of the African Church to the State in the matterof the Church divisions, and the fact of a conference of

bishops, over which an imperial lay official presidedas Moderator, must have done much to confuse the

distinction in the popular mind.Moreover we find Augustine asking for copies of

imperial decisions against the Donatists in order to havethem read in all the churches of his diocese (Letter 139).The rights of a bishop within his diocese were some-

times ill-defined and constantly subject to irregularities.The right of a bishop to choose his own successor was

prohibited and exercised. Augustine was actually con-

secrated to a see not vacant, in ignorance of Canons

forbidding this. Augustine complains that a man has

been ordained sub-deacon in the diocese of Hippo with-

out the Bishop's consent (Letter 63). On the other

hand there was no difficulty in sub-dividing a diocese.

Augustine decreed the consecration of a Bishop to a

portion of the diocese of Hippo. The consecration wasthe Primate's act. The new bishop's misconduct madehis deprivation necessary, and that part of the diocese

apparently reverted to Augustine's control.

Augustine's way of addressing his ecclesiastical

inferiors is to identify himself with their level. Thusa deacon is the bishop's fellow-deacon (Letter 149, i),

and a presbyter is his fellow-presbyter (ib. 34 : con-

diaconus, conpresbyter).Much is incidentally revealed concerning African

Church life and its customs. The Church had deve-

loped a considerable amount of external dignity since

the days of Constantine. We read of the episcopalthrones ascended by flights of steps, the canopied seats,


the pulpits (Letter 23, "absidae gradatae . . . Cathedrae

velatae"

;Letter 29,

" exhedram ascenderemus "J.1 We

read of several churches in the town of Hippo belong-

ing to the Catholics;also of ecclesiastical houses and

buildings. There was also a church of the Donatists

to which, at the beginning of Augustine's ministry, the

majority of the population belonged. Evening service

was daily said in the church of Hippo (Letter 29).But the moral level was deplorably low. Augustine's

energies as preacher were first directed against the

drunkenness which prevailed in his own congregationat the festival of the Martyrs (Letter 22). We find that

it had not been usual before Augustine's time for a

priest to preach when the Bishop was present. This

innovation was introduced by Bishop Valerius at Hippo,who was thankful to avail himself of Augustine's ability.

And the example was followed by the Primate Aurelius

at Carthage (Letter 41). Extraordinary local incidents

of church life are found in these letters. There is a

weird account of the outrageous attempt of the con-

gregation at Hippo to compel a wealthy laymen whowas there on a visit to take an oath that he would be

ordained among them. It has been cynically observedthat when the layman had impoverished himself by his

charity the people's interest in him ceased. The con-

gregation at Hippo do not shine in this incident. Withthis should be compared the curious scene in church at

the selection of a coadjutor to Augustine with the rightof succession (Letter 213).

North Africa in Augustine's time was a strangemixture of languages and nationalities, as appears in

the proper names. Valerius, Bishop of Hippo before

Augustine, was a Greek who preached with difficulty in

Latin. Whether a priest was able to preach in Latin or

in Punic was of great importance. The question is

several times mentioned in the Letters. It has been

1 Letter 29.

INTRODUCTION 21

thought that the difficulties between Catholic andDonatist were partly created by racial differences, theLatin colonists on the one side, the early inhabitants onthe other. We find uncouth Punic names among the

Church's martyrs, provoking the ridicule of the cultivated

Roman Pagan, who could not stand such proper namesas Mygdon, Sanais, and, worst of all, Namphanio(Letter 16). Then again we find apparently a Jewishelement among the Clergy. Lazarus is a Bishop of the

African Church (Letter 175).

Among the Bishops a different origin is suggested bythe names Chrisimus (Letter 244), Pancarius (Letter

251), Eufrates (Letter 142), Gignantius (Letter 176).Then again there is Bishop Pontican (Letter 247)

and Classician (Letter 250).What strikes all students of the Letters is the curious

anticipation in North Africa of the Puritan form of

Christian names. Thus we find Bishop Benenatus

(Letter 253), and Bishop Adeodatus. Three Bishops in

one Council share the name of Quodvultdeus. AmongAugustine's correspondents is a priest named Deogratias

(Letter 102). Bishop Habetdeus figures in the Confer-

ence of 410.The work of the Church in North Africa was hindered

by lack of clergy acquainted with the language of the

people. Augustine's predecessor in the Bishopric of

Hippo was imperfectly acquainted with the Latin

language. Hippo was a Roman colony, but containedalso a Punic population. Augustine's sermons give at

times Punic words. In a letter still extant (Letter 84)

Augustine refuses to give up his deacon, Lucillus, for

work in another diocese on the ground that the deaconwas able to talk Latin. This is the reading in the text

of the letter. But it has been thought much more

probable that the deacon's usefulness consisted in his

ability to talk Punic.

Another feature of Church life which Augustine'sletters display is the constant intercommunication


between different portions of the Church. Correspond-ence is, indeed, often difficult. One letter-carrier is

delayed, consecrated to the episcopate, and dies with-

out delivering his letters. Letters sometimes miscarried

(Letter 149), and were circulated among people for

whom they were not meant, while failing to reach the

persons for whom they were intended. This happenedwith letters sent by Augustine to Jerome. Correspond-ence was also at times fearfully belated. Augustinecomplains that he wrote a letter while still juvenis, andhas not yet received an answer though he has becomesenex. But if years at times elapsed between a letter

and its reply the fault was not always with the bearer

of the letter. By way of precaution Augustine mentions

that he has sealed his letter with a seal representing the

profile of a man's face (Letter 59).In spite of all these drawbacks and difficulties the

reader of Augustine's letters is constantly reminded howclosely the various portions of Christendom are linked

together. Travellers are continually moving from one

country to another. A Spanish priest, Orosius, visits

Augustine at Hippo and is sent on to Bethlehem, almost

certainly commissioned to find out what the Pelagiansare about, and to neutralise the leader's influence with

such bishops as John of Jerusalem, who may not be

equal to his subtlety. No part of Christendom seemsisolated from the rest. Pope Zosimus sends the Bishopof Hippo on a mission to another part of Africa, onsome business connected with the Holy See. BishopAugustine informs and instructs the successive occupantsof the Roman See on the nature of the Pelagian dis-

putes. The Roman bishop misunderstands, throughinadequate knowledge, an appeal made to him by anAfrican priest, and requires to be better informed.

But there is no isolation;no mere insularity. The

Church is one vast organism.A study of Augustine's letters is also a study in

character. His extraordinary ascendancy over his

INTRODUCTION 23

contemporaries ;the uniqueness of his genius ;

his

intellectual power, of which he could not possibly beunconscious

;the deference with which the leaders of

the Church regarded his utterances might easily havehad disastrous effect upon the individual himself.

What strikes the student of these letters is the writer's

profound consciousness of the limitations of humanknowledge ;

his readiness to confess his ignorance ;his

emphatic refusal to be regarded as an oracle;his in-

sistence that all theologians are liable to error and

require correction;

his willingness to be instructed;

his submission to the authority of the world-wide

Church.From the use sometimes made of Augustine's theo-

logical opinions it seems necessary to make what is

nevertheless an exceedingly obvious remark that the

opinions of a theologian are by no means necessarily

accepted by the Church. Augustine's predestinationtheories, which are in these letters carried to rigorous

extremes, have never been endorsed by the Catholic

Church.No introduction to Augustine's correspondence would

be complete without drawing attention to his constant

references to the Scriptures. Considerable portions of

the Bible could be reproduced from his letters. His

teaching is continually founded upon prophetic and

apostolic utterances. The quotations are profuse. Theuse made of them is most penetrating ;

so obviouslythe result of deep and continued study.

1 This appears

chiefly in the teaching on Sacrament and Schism. But

above all is the wonderful exposition of the Christian

doctrine of Grace.

1 Cf. Bossuet, Defense de la Tradition, Pt. I. iv. cap. xvi.

[The Letters have been studied in the Benedictine text, and in

Gaume's edition, Paris 1836. But reference has been made to the

Vienna edition by Goldbacher, 4 vols., 1895-1911. The references

to S. Jerome are to Vallarsi's edition, Verona 1735.]

CHAPTER I

LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION

THE first series of letters belong to the period before

Augustine's consecration. They are dated between the

years 386 and 395. They include the letters to his friend

Nebridius;to Valerius, Bishop of Hippo; to Aurelius,

Bishop of Carthage, and to Paulinus of Nola. Theywere all written after the return to Africa. No letters

of the earlier period in Italy exist. Information about

that time is obtained from the Confessions, from the

discussions embodied in the early treatises, and fromscattered allusions in the later letters.

Among the early letters of Augustine there is a series

of twelve,1 written before his ordination, that is before

the year 391, to his friend Nebridius. Nebridius ownedan estate near Carthage. His acute criticism causedmuch* perplexity to Augustine during his Manichaean

phase.2 Nebridius followed Augustine to Milan ex-

pressly in order to pursue together the search for

truth. He was one of the circle of Augustine's mostintimate associates sharing his retreat in the Villa at

Cassiacum not far from Milan during the months whichfollowed immediately after the great writer's conversion.

Nebridius himself was still outside the Christian Faith.

He was unable to believe in the Incarnation. He held

the theory that the Body of Christ was not constituted

of flesh and bones, but was only an appearance and a

phantasm. But he was an eager inquirer after truth.

Augustine's conversation led the way which his friend

1 Letters 3-14.2

Confessions, vi. 17; vii. 3.

24

LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION 25

was to follow.1 They earnestly discussed together in

Italy the problem of immortality and the nature of evil

and good. When Augustine returned to Africa,Nebridius settled in his country house near Carthage,where he lived with his mother. Meantime Augustinefounded his community at Thagaste. And Nebridius's

heart uas there. Weak health, however, prevented his

joining it. Letters were frequent between them.

Augustine had sent Nebridius some copies of his

writings, no doubt the Dialogues composed in the

country house near Milan, and had received a grateful

reply congratulating him as happy. Augustine's answerbreathes the calm reflective spirit of the period of

retreat in which, without knowing it, he was preparingfor his priestly labours.

"I read your letter beside the lamp after supper.

The time of rest was near but not of sleep. On mybed I fell into a long meditation, and talked to myself,

Augustine conversing with Augustine : Is it not true,

as Nebridius says, that I am happy ? Not altogether ;

for that I am still far from wise he himself would notventure to deny. May not, however, a happy life bethe portion of those who are not wise? That is not

probable. For were it so, lack of wisdom would bebut a small defect, whereas it is the source of all un-

happiness. How then did Nebridius come to such a

view ? Was it because he had read my tracts andventured to think me wise? Surely his pleasure could

not make the man so rash : more especially since he is

a person whose judgment, as I well know, is of weight.Here is the explanation : he wrote what he thoughtwould please me, because he was pleased with mywritings; and he wrote in a joyful mood, careless whathe entrusted to his joyous pen. What would he havewritten if he had read my Soliloquies ? He would have

rejoiced still more. But he would not have found a

1Confessions, vi. 26.


higher term to call me than happy. So then he hasascribed to me the highest of all names, and has keptnothing in reserve whereof to call me if he became more

joyous over me than he is at present. See what joycan do !

"

This interesting passage shows already the writer's

accurate and reasoned use of words, and also that he

judged his Soliloquies to be a more important work thanhis other early writings. There is no question that in

this his insight was true, and that his opinion has beenendorsed in the judgment of posterity.

Augustine throws this letter into the form of a

Catechism. 1

Of what parts do we consist ? Of soul and body.Which of these is the nobler ? Doubtless the soul.

What do men praise in the body? Nothing that I

see but comeliness.

And what is comeliness of body? Harmony of parts in

the form, together with a certain agreeableness of colour.

Is this comeliness better when it is true, or when it is

illusive ? Unquestionably it is better when it is true.

And when is it found true? In the soul. The soul,

therefore, is to be loved more than the body.But in what part of the soul does this truth reside ?

In the mind and understanding.With what has the understanding to contend ? With

the senses.

Must we then resist the senses with all our might?Certainly.What then if the things with which the senses

acquaint us gives us pleasure ? We must prevent themfrom doing so.

How ? By acquiring the habit of doing without them,and desiring better things.

But if the soul die, what then ? Why then truth

1 Letter 3.


dies, or intelligence is not truth, or intelligence is not

a part of the soul, or that which has some part immortalis liable to die

;conclusions all of which I demonstrated

long ago in my Soliloquies to be absurd because im-

possible ;and I am firmly persuaded that this is the

case, but somehow through the influence of custom in

the experience of evils we are terrified and hesitate.

But even granting, finally, that the soul dies, which I

do not see to be in any way possible, it remains never-

theless true that a happy life does not consist in the

evanescent joy which sensible objects can yield ;this I

have pondered deliberately and proved.1

Nebridius desired to be more fully acquainted with

his friend's religious development.2

Augustine repliesthat he has not yet arrived at the beginning of the soul's

manhood. His soul is in its boyhood still. He hopesit may be called a promising boyhood rather than a

a good for nothing. He is, at any rate, well assured

that the intellect is superior to the senses;

which

implies the superiority of things perceived by the

intellect over those perceived by the material organsof sensation. If Nebridius can discover any flaw in

this argument let him say so.

But, after all, these activities of the intellect, althoughvaluable in their place and degree, are completelysubordinated to the religious experiences of the spirit :

" and when after calling upon you for help I begin to

rise to Him and to those things which are in the highestsense real, I am at times satisfied with such a grasp and

enjoyment of the things which eternally abide that I

sometimes wonder at my requiring any such reasoningas I have given above to persuade me of the reality of

those things which in my soul are as truly present to

me as I am to myself."3

It seems that Augustine's fellow-citizens at Thagaste

1 Letter 3.2 Letter 4.

s Letter 4, 2.


invaded his hours of study, and made serious inroads

on his time and thought. Nebridius was highly in-

dignant with this frustration 1 of the very purpose of

Augustine's retirement from the world."Is it true,

my beloved Augustine," he wrote,"that you are spend-

ing your strength and patience on the affairs of yourfellow-citizens, and that the leisure from distractions so

earnestly desired is still withheld ? Who, I would like

to know, arc the men who thus take advantage of yourgood nature, and trespass on your time ? . . . Have youno friend at hand to tell them what your heart is set

upon? Will neither Romanian nor Lucinian do this?

Let them hear me at all events." Nebridius proposesthat Augustine should remove to the writer's home.

In a remarkable passage in answer to Nebridius's

inquiry by what means certain thoughts and dreamsare put into our minds by higher powers or by super-human agents, Augustine says,

2 "It is my opinion that

every movement of the mind affects in some degree the

body." Although no physical effect of mental activitybe discernible to other human beings, yet it may be

discerned by beings of acuter faculties than those of

men. "It is by no means unreasonable to suppose

that beings which act with the powers of an aerial or

ethereal body upon our bodies, and are by the consti-

tution of their natures able to pass unhindered throughthese bodies, should be capable of much greater quick-ness in moving whatever they wish, while we, thoughnot perceiving what they do, are nevertheless affected

by the results of their activity." This is certainly a

remarkable essay in fourth-century psychology.Nebridius greatly valued Augustine's letters. They

"bring to his ear the voice of Christ and the teaching

of Plato and of Plotinus." 3But, greatly as he valued

the written message, he longed far more with the irrita-

bility of weak health for actual conversation. He grew


3 Letter 6.


importunate in proposals that they should live together.He even reproached Augustine with indifference to his

plans for common life.1

Augustine was much distressed

at his friend's reproach, but explained that he cannottransfer the Community to Carthage or the neighbour-hood. Their mutual friend Lucinian suggested that

Nebridius could bear the journey in a litter;but his

mother would never consent to his removal in his inva-

lidish state. Augustine cannot leave the Communityand come to Nebridius. For Nebridius has mentalresources when left to himself, but in the Communityare some who require constant attention. Neither can

Augustine divide his time between the Community andNebridius. Constantly journeying to and fro would be

beyond his strength."

I cannot accomplish what I wish unless I cease

wholly to wish what is beyond my strength." Moreovercontinual travelling would be destructive to tranquillityand collectedness. Doubtless incessant movement is,

in certain rulers of the Churches, blended with the graceof recollection; but it is neither Augustine's mission,nor within reach of his capabilities ;

still less is it con-

genial to his tastes. There is much need for withdrawalfrom the tumult of things transitory, in order to acquirethe calmness of spirit which can say I have no fear.

Nebridius's desire was not to be achieved. Duringthe brief remainder of his days he was the favoured

recipient of Augustine's letters. But apparently theynever met again on earth. He became "a faithful

member of the Catholic Church." 2 And when "his

whole household were brought to Christianity throughhim," he was "released from the flesh." Augustineafterwards dedicated to his memory a touching pageof his Confessions.No sooner was Augustine ordained to the priesthood

than he wrote to his bishop, Valerius, the well-known

1 Letter 10. 2Confessions, ix. 6.


letter 1asking for some months quiet before his priestly

labours should begin. When the circumstances of his

ordination are remembered this request was only rightand natural. Augustine's ordination was no calm, de-

liberate reception of the ministerial commission after a

lengthy period of conscious preparation. He not onlydid not seek the priesthood, he had deliberately avoidedit. His ideal, as his letters have already shown, wasa life of study and devotion

;not at all a life of active

ministry and administration. He was living in Com-munity as a recluse. He avoided 'cities where ordination

might be imposed upon him by the congregation or

by the clergy in spite of his reluctance. When he visited

Hippo he thought himself safe because there was no

vacancy in the See. Nevertheless, ordained he was, in

spite of his reluctance and in spite of his tears.

His letter to Bishop Valerius still remains to testifyto his feelings on being suddenly set in the respon-sibilities of the Apostolic ministry. His words are

memorable.2"If," he wrote, "the duties of the office

of a bishop or presbyter or deacon be discharged in

a perfunctory and time-serving manner, no work canbe in this life more easy, agreeable, and likely to secure

the favour of men, especially in our day ;but none at

the same time more miserable, deplorable, and worthyof condemnation in the sight of God "

;and on the

other hand, "if in the office of bishop or presbyter or

deacon the orders of the Captain of our Salvation be

observed, there is no work in this life more difficult,

toilsome, and hazardous, especially in our day, but noneat the same time more blessed in the sight of God."

Augustine complains that he has never been taught,either in youth or in early manhood, what the methodof that ministry is. He thought that his ordination in

such a state of ignorance must have been a punishmentfor his sins. He tells the old Bishop with delightful

1 Letter 21. 2 Ibid.


frankness that he was accustomed formerly, with anair of superiority, to criticise the defects of the clergy.He has now begun to realise the rashness of his judg-ment. It was this which caused his tears when he was

being ordained : tears which were completely misunder-stood by some who wished him well.

He was ordained just at the very time when he was

beginning to devote himself to the study of the Scrip-tures. He was just advanced far enough to realise his

deficiencies. What can be more essential for a manwho undertakes the ministry of the Sacrament and of

the Word of God ? Note this familiar twofold division

of ministerial functions already in use. He appeals to

Father Valerius to give him time to study the Scripturesbefore he begins to teach. At least let him have till

Easter. He asks Valerius to aid him with prayers that

his absence from the people may not prove fruitless to

the Church of Christ and the benefit of his brethren.

Augustine's peculiar power was recognised by his

ecclesiastical superiors very soon after his ordination.

Already he is in correspondence with the Primate,1

Aurelius, Bishop of Carthage, on the defects of African

Church life (" Ecclesia Africana "). It appears that the

festival commemorations of the Martyrs at Hippo werescandalous scenes of drunkenness. Quoting S. Paul's

exhortation to the Romans," Not in rioting and drunken-

ness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife

and envying," Augustine says that while the second of

these three classes of sin is punished severely by the

Church, by exclusion from the Sacraments, neither the

first nor the third were treated as seriously. Unlessthe laws of the Church are as strict in these cases as

in the other, these sins will be less seriously regardedin popular esteem. S. Paul forbade participation in

a common meal with Christians who were drunkards.If we are to receive the Body of Christ together with

1 Letter 22.


persons with whom S. Paul prohibits the sharing of a

common meal, at least, says Augustine, let us keepthese scandals away from the graves of the saintly dead.He feels that the moral level of the African Church in

these matters is inferior to that of many other places.The evil is long-standing and deeply rooted. Augus-tine thinks that the authority of a Council of the Churchwill be necessary if this evil is to be removed. Atthe same time tact and sympathetic treatment will

be essential (" Magis docendo quam jubendo, magismonendo quam minando")."Thus, at least, we must deal with the multitude;

severity is to be employed toward the sins of the few.

And if we threaten, let it be done with sorrow, threat-

ening from Scripture a judgment to come, so that

deference be not paid to our authority but to GodHimself in our words. In this way an impression will

be made first upon the spiritually minded or upon those

who are inclined that way ;and then by their influence

and through the gentlest but most urgent exhortations

the rest of the multitude will be overcome." l

A later letter will show how admirably Augustinepractised his own precepts when he came to deal with

difficulties and disorders of this kind in the Church at

Hippo.Augustine observes further that festival commemora-

tions in the cemeteries were regarded by popular opinionnot only as honouring the Martyrs but as some advan-

tage to the dead ("solatia mortuorum"). Consequentlyit is necessary to disentangle the true element in these

observances from the false. Sanction should be givento the belief that offerings for the spirits of those whoare asleep do really confer some benefit on the dead.2

But the practice must be regulated ;and extravagance

forbidden. No offerings are to be put up for sale, and1 Letter 22, p. 41, 5.2 Oblationes pro spiritibus dormientium, quas vere aliquid

adjuvare credendum est. Ibid. 6.


offerings of money must be given immediately to the

poor. Regulations of this kind will justify no com-

plaint on the ground that the dead are neglected or

the bereaved ill-considered.

As for strife and deception, the third class of the list

of defects, Augustine fears that these exist more seri-

ously among 1 the clergy than among the people. Hespeaks of the subtle dangers of human praise, and the

temptations to self-esteem whose force no man realises

until he has made war against it. On this subject he

speaks feelingly, for he has felt its danger.He closes by asking the Bishop to pray for him,

adding :

" There are many things concerning my life andconversation of which I will not write, which I wouldconfess with weeping if between my heart and yourheart there were no other medium than my mouth and

your ears." 2

Another of Augustine's correspondents was Paulinusof Nola.

Augustine kept up his correspondence with Paulinusof Nola throughout his life. He wrote to Paulinus at

a later date (417) instructing him in the Pelagian dis-

putes (Letter 186) ;and yet later still (about 421) he

composed, in reply to Paulinus's inquiries, the treatise

on care for the dead.

Paulinus had formerly held the office of Consul, andhad travelled much about the world. He knew Am-brose at Milan, and looked on him as his spiritualfather. He had retired from secular functions and wasnow residing in Spain, and had married a lady namedTherasia. He records in a letter to Augustine's friend

Alypins that he had been baptised by Delphinus,

Bishop of Bordeaux,3 and consecrated Bishop by Lam-

pius of Barcelona. He knew a number of clergy in.

high places, including Bishop Aurelius of Carthage.His veneration for Augustine was unbounded. Five of

1 Letter 21, 7.2 Letter 21, 9.

3 Letter 24, 2.

c


Augustine's writings are known to him;

l and he doesnot hesitate to consider them divinely inspired, and to

call them the Pentateuch against the Manichaeans. Hewrites as one familiar with the Churches and the

Monasteries of Africa, whether at Carthage, Thagaste,or Hippo Regius. He sends Alypius a copy of the

Chronicon of Eusebius;asks to know which of his own

hymns Alypius is acquainted with;and sends him,

in the usual way of salutation, a loaf which he calls

eulogia?1

It is noteworthy that both this letter and another 3 to

Augustine are sent not only by Paulinus but also byTherasia his wife. In this letter Augustine is addressedin glowing language as a light worthy of its place on the

candlestick of the Church, diffusing widely in the

Catholic towns the brightness of a flame fed by the oil

of the seven-branched lamp of the Upper Sanctuary.With characteristic humility he says that if the office

which they hold is considered, Augustine is his brother;

if maturity of intelligence, Augustine, although his

junior in years, is his father. And he asks to be in-

structed in the Sacred Scriptures and in spiritual studies.

A letter to Licentius, son of Romanian, recalls anearlier chapter of Augustine's career. 4 Readers of the

Confessions will remember that far back in the critical

period of Augustine's youth, when the slender resources

of his family were exhausted and he was withdrawnfrom higher education, Romanian, a wealthy African

citizen, came to his support and generously providedthe necessary funds (Confessions, II. 5). From that

time Romanian followed with interest Augustine's

progress. They were together at Milan in that discus-

sion, over which many a reader must have smiled,when oblivious to the fact that some of the party had

wives, the little group of Augustine's friends debated on

1 Letter 24, 2.2 Letter 24.

3 Letter 25.* Letter 26, A.D. 395.

LETTERS PRIOR TO -HIS CONSECRATION 35

possibility of leading a Community life {Confessions ,

VI. 24). Augustine's earnestness was sometimes a

little lacking in a sense of the ludicrous.

In the little party of friends in retreat at the countryhouse of Verecundus, outside Milan, Licentius wasincluded. At that time he was Augustine's pupil, and,as the records of their conversations show, was in his

master's opinion deficient in moral calmness and sincerityof purpose. Licentius was gifted with ability and wasan educated person, but his interests were classical and

pagan, literary and worldly, not by any means spiritualor Christian. He is frequently mentioned in the

Dialogues and early writings of his great teacher.1

Now that Augustine was a priest, Licentius sent

a lengthy piece of Latin hexameters to his formerteacher.

Augustine was not at all disposed to criticise his

verses, but rather if possible to deepen his character.

He was very anxious about the young man's morals.

In affectionate terms Augustine told him that while

dreading the restraints of wisdom the young man was

becoming enslaved to mortal affairs. He tells Licentius

that the restraint of discipline, while admittedly hardto bear at first, results in freedom and in joy : whereasthe fetters of the world have a delusive charm and an

experience full of misery.

Augustine tells him that if his verses were not

according to rule of rhythm he would be ashamed of

them, and would never rest until they had been carefullycorrected : but if his conduct is not in accordance with

the laws of God, how can he be content to let it remainuncorrected? Is an error in literary composition moreserious to him than moral disorder must be in the ears

of God ?

Licentius had put into verse the wish that the daysspent with Augustine in the hills of Italy might be

1 See De beata Vita, 6, Works, I. p. 501.


recalled. If Augustine will but express the wish

nothing would prevent Licentius from following him.

Augustine quotes this sentiment and applies it to

morals. He calls on Licentius to follow him not to

the hills of Italy but into a better life." Give heed

to your own poem," he exclaims,"listen to yourself,

my most unreasonable, most unheeding friend," Hecalls upon the young man to attend to the words :

" Myyoke is easy and my burden is light."

To this he adds a constraining and affectionate

appeal." Why do you turn away from me ? Why

yield your ears to the imaginations of deadly pleasures ?

They are false. They will perish. They lead to de-

struction. They are false, Licentius." He tells himthat if he were to find a golden crown in the earth hewould present it to the Church. Licentius has received

from God a mind which is spiritually golden, and hemakes it an instrument of his passions, and a means of

approach to Satan.

The bearer of Augustine's reply to Paulinus wasRomanian.1

Augustine reminds Paulinus that the

bearer's name will be found in the treatise on True

Religion :

2 a treatise which was evidently one of the five

which Augustine sent to Paulinus. This treatise waswritten for Romanian's instruction and in reply to his

inquiries. Augustine informs Paulinus that Romanian

possesses copies of all his writings, and will submit themto Paulinus's consideration. But Augustine asks Paulinus

to remember that what he has written erroneously is his

own, whereas what he has written correctly is due to

Him in Whose light we shall see light"For," says

Augustine characteristically," what have we that we

have not received ?"

It is important to note this ascrip-tion of insight to the grace of God in this early periodof Augustine's development, and long before the Pelagiantroubles had become conspicuous.

1 Letter 27, p. 62. .~ De Vera Religione, 12.


Paulinus had written to Bishop Alypius asking for anaccount of his religious experiences.

1

Alypius, whose

spiritual life had been bound up with that of Augustine,and who had been the solitary witness of Augustine'sconversion (Confessions, VIII. 30), could undoubtedlyhave written a religious autobiography of exceptionalinterest. But he appears in this letter of Augustine as

a man of profound humility and reserve, whose sensitive-

ness of nature did not allow him to record his innermost

experiences even for the edification of others. Hetherefore asked Augustine to reply instead of him.

Augustine accordingly answered Paulinus's request bydwelling on the exceptional character of his intimate

friend, and by informing Paulinus that Alypius wasa relative of Romanian, the bearer of this letter.

It further appears that Romanian was travelling to

Italy with his son Licentius, the young man who wasthe subject of Augustine's affectionate anxiety. Hecommends Licentius to Bishop Paulinus in the earnest

hope that the young man will be influenced by him."

I desire earnestly," wrote Augustine," that while his

life is yet in the green blade, the tares may be turned

into wheat, and he may believe those who know byexperience the dangers to which he is eager to exposehimself." Augustine sends Paulinus a copy of the youngman's poetry and of his own letter in reply.An exceedingly graphic letter,

2 written by Augustinesoon after he became a priest to his friend Alypius,

Bishop of Thagaste, shows the tenacity of pagan cus-

toms over Christian converts, and the difficulty expe-rienced by the Church in overcoming them.The ordinary Christian of Hippo was strongly disposed

to convert the festivals of the Church into occasions for

drunkenness. This scandal appears to have reached

its worst on the Festival of S. Leontius, a former Bishopof Hippo, and in the Church which he had erected and

1 Letter 27, 5, p. 65.2 Letter 29.


which was dedicated in his memory. Bishop Valerius

imposed on his priest Augustine the task of preachingagainst this popular vice.

Just before the festival the passage read in the Gospelwas on casting pearls before swine, and Augustine availed

himself of the lesson to make some emphatic statements

against sensual self-indulgence. He told the congrega-tion that people who did that sort of thing in their ownhouses ought to be driven away from the pearls whichwere in the Church's possession.

This discourse on pearls and swine was made to a

somewhat scanty congregation. But the hearers re-

ported the substance of it in Hippo, where it rousedconsiderable opposition.On a later occasion the people assembled in much

larger numbers. The Gospel account of Christ cleansingthe Temple was the singularly appropriate lesson for

the day. Augustine drew the moral that if Christ could

not tolerate the intrusion of worldliness in the Sanctuaryeven in the form of commercial transactions, the con-

gregation might infer for themselves what our Lord's

attitude would be towards vices which are nowhere per-missible. Drunkenness at a religious festival wouldhave been an intolerable scandal among the Jews.What was it among Christians? Augustine read to

them from Exodus how the great Legislator threw downthe Tables of the Law in despair at the conduct of his

people. What distinguished the Christian from the

Jew was the writing of the Law upon his heart. Whatdegraded the Christian beneath the Jew was the intro-

duction into Christian worship of a scandal which never

once occurred among the Jews except when that peoplefell away into pagan idolatry.

Accordingly Augustine laid Exodus aside and turned

to the Pauline Epistles. He reminded his hearers howS. Paul required the faithful to separate themselvesfrom the drunken

;how he warned that they who do

such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God;how


he corrected the Eucharistic scandals at Corinth;how

he characterised the works of the flesh and the fruits of

the Spirit.Then Augustine pleaded with the people with all the

earnestness that he could command, by the Passion of

Christ, by their regard for the venerable BishopValerius, by the trust imposed on the preacher, bysolemn warnings from the Psalms

;

"If his children forsake my law I will visit their

offences with the rod, and their sin with scourges."

Being deeply moved he spoke so effectually that theywere also moved and softened, and priest and peoplewept together over the sins of the congregation.

But there .was yet the outer circle to be convincedand won. Adverse criticism upon the preacher still

continued. The time-honoured argument against re-

forms was made as usual. There had been clergy in

Hippo before Augustine came. They permitted these

customs to continue. They were just as true Christians

as Augustine was.

Rumours of these criticisms were brought to the

preacher. He prepared himself to answer them byappeal to the assurance given to Ezekiel (xxxiii. 9),

that the prophet who warns the evil even if his warningis unsuccessful at least delivers his soul. He wouldshake his robe and depart.That sermon however was not delivered. For the

critics themselves came and interviewed Augustinebefore the time of service, and he was enabled to winthem over to his course. Setting aside therefore the

sermon which he had prepared, he contented himself

with explaining how it was that the clergy of a pre-vious generation had not insisted on suppressing these

festivities. It was due to the fact that the Church wasin the period of persecutions. The leaders of the

Church made concessions to the pagan ways. It wasan indulgence to human infirmities: an encouragement


to the pagan to become converted, if too austere a

demand were not made upon him at the beginning.They were permitted to honour the Martyrs by social

festivities. These reasons were now matters of the past.Now that men were converted the Christian standardmust prevail.

It appears that the supporters of pagan custom hadbeen able to appeal to similar festivities held in Romein the Basilica of the Blessed Apostle Peter.

Augustine's reply to this is characteristic. He ad-

mitted the fact but urged that it had been often for-

bidden;that the place where it happened was a long

way off the Bishop's dwelling; that in so large a citythe population was very mixed

;and that in any case

those who desire to honour S. Peter should obey his

precepts, and pay attention to his ideal plainly givenin his letters, rather than to the practice which wenton in his Church in contradiction to his ideal. There-

upon Augustine quoted i Pet. iv. 1-3, where S. Peter

says that the time of our past life should suffice us to

have walked in drunkenness.The effect of this explanation was excellent. Augus-

tine directed that the time should be spent in Scripture

readings and in the Psalms. And the day passed in

a very edifying manner.One further day completed the good work. The

congregation assembled in larger numbers than ever.

Scripture was read and Psalms were sung. So the

evening came on. The Bishop ordered Augustine, muchagainst his will, to address the people again. Accord-

ingly he gave a short thanksgiving for the blessingsof the day. So the daily evensong was reached, and

evening closed in upon the singing of a hymn.Meanwhile, he hears that there has been trouble at

another Church in the diocese. The Circumcellionsbroke into the Basilica and destroyed the Altar. Theplace was called Hasna, where Brother Argentius is

presbyter.


From a letter to Paulinus of Nola 1 comes the

announcement that Augustine has been consecratedin 395 coadjutor bishop at Hippo by Bishop Valerius,who was not satisfied with continuing him in the rankof presbyter. This was done relying on certain pre-cedents. In Augustine's Life by Possidius we are

informed that Augustine had misgivings whether the

consecration of a successor during a Bishop's lifetime

was not against the custom of the Church. But hewas led at the time to believe that the procedure wascorrect. Precedents both in the African Church andin other Churches across the seas were produced for

it. Augustine did not know at the time that this wasforbidden by the Council of Nicaea.

The eighth Canon of Nicaea regulates in such a wayas to maintain the principle "that there may not betwo bishops in the city." Hammond says that " the

rule of one bishop only in a city was of universal

observance in the Church from the very beginning . . .

All attempts to ordain a second were condemned andresisted . . . This rule however did not apply to the

case of coadjutors, where the bishop, from old age or

infirmity, was unable to perform the duties of his

office." 2

Towards the close of his life, some four years before

his death, Augustine held a meeting of his people, andwith their approval took the step of nominating his

own successor. But he declined to have his successor

consecrated while he lived. He informed his peoplethat such consecration was forbidden by the Council

of Nicaea, and that the irregularity incurred in his

own consecration had been done in ignorance, since

neither he nor Bishop Valerius were aware of the

Nicene Decree at the time.3 It might be thought a

singular thing that African Bishops should be ignorant1 Letter 31, 4.2 Hammond, The Definitions of Faith, 1843, p. 28.3 See Letter 213, 4.


of the Decrees of Nicaea seventy years after they hadbeen passed. But when we find even a Pope (Zosimus)confusing the Decrees of Nicaea with those of another

council we shall be less surprised at the ignorance of

a local bishop.

Augustine begs Paulinus to pay a visit to Africa,1

sends him his three books on Free Will, and refers to

some writings of S. Ambrose which are no longer ex-

tant. One of Augustine's Community, Brother Severus,has been made Bishop (Antistes) of the Church of

Milan. Augustine sends Paulinus bread, after the

manner of eastern salutation.

Paulinus did not visit Africa in person, but someof the Spanish clergy did. They brought back to

Paulinus in Spain, letters from Aurelius of Carthage,

Alypius of Thagaste, Severus of Milevis, and Augustine.After receiving these, Paulinus, acting on Augustine's

request about Licentius, wrote a letter to Romanian,the young man's father. He congratulates the African

Churches on possessing Augustine among their Bishops,and speaks in high praise of the aged Bishop Valerius's

freedom from all jealousy of Augustine's great abilities.

Paulinus expresses the hope, nay the assurance, that

Romanian's son will listen to this" summus Christi

pontifex."2

Augustine's pleadings will prevail over

the young man's earthly desires.

The writer directs the remainder of his letters to

Licentius. Remembering the young man's love of

verse, Paulinus sends him a poem in which he sings

Augustine's praises. What the young man thought of

the poem history does not record. But Paulinus did

not hesitate twice over in some eighty-six lines to endan hexameter with the word Augustinus. Licentius

was very fastidious of his literary productions. The

young man did nothing of this kind in the Carmenwhich he sent to Augustine, his father's teacher



(cf. Letter 26). Paulinus's verses are full of admirableadvice and spiritual principles.At the date of Augustine's priesthood (391-395) it

was not the custom in the African Church that a priestshould preach when his bishop was present. It appearsto have been Bishop Valerius of Hippo who introducedthis innovation. Other bishops soon began to follow

his example. There is a letter written by Augustinetogether with his friend Alypius, soon after the formerbecame a bishop, to Bishop Aurelius of Carthage

1 con-

gratulating him on authorising priests to preach at

Carthage when the Bishop was present.References to Augustine's delicate health appear from

time to time in the letters, as they do in the sermonsand in the treatises. Weakness of constitution is fre-

quently mentioned in the Confessions. Illness hinderedhim during the period of retreat in the villa outside

Milan before his baptism. Before he had been Bishoptwo years he speaks of himself as well in spirit, butunable to walk or stand.2 He writes to his friend

Profuturus from a bed of sickness.

It was the time when Megalius, Primate of Numidia,had just died. The Primate's relations with Augustinehad been unfortunate. Megalius, for some reason not

distinctly ascertainable, wrote an angry letter against

Augustine while the latter was only a priest. But

Megalius afterwards apologised for this letter before

an African council. He also became Augustine's con-

secrator. The letter was remembered, and the apologyforgotten, by Augustine's Donatist opponents. This

unfortunate letter and its misuse is expressly mentioned

by Augustine in his reply to the Donatist Petilian,3

which was written shortly after the letter to Profuturus.

And the same calumny, in spite of Augustine's refuta-

tion, was repeated yet again on the Donatist side. It

1 Letter 41.2 Letter 38, A. D. 397

3 Contra lift. Petit, iii. 19.


has been thought probable that the Primate's unjustand angry letter was in Augustine's mind when hementioned the death of Megalius, and was the reason

why he added :

u We are not free from troubles neither

are we deprived of protection. If there are groundsfor grief so also there are for consolation."

This reference to Megalius leads Augustine to warnhimself against the dangers of anger, and its tendencyto become habitual. Prolonged anger is hatred.

1

1 Inveterascens ira fit odium. Letter 38, cf. Letter 9, 4. Ira

est autem, quantum mea fert opinio, turbulentus appetitus au-

ferendi ea qiue facilitatem actionis impediunt. On this distinction

between ira and odium see Trench's Synonyms.

CHAPTER II

LETTERS ON PAGANISM 1

IN Augustine's correspondence with Pagans we havethe advantage of possessing letters addressed to him as

well as his replies. Of several of these letters the date

cannot now be ascertained. Those whose dates weknow range between 390 and 412. We are here enabledto see how Christianity appeared in the beginning of the

fifth century to Pagans of culture and position ;what

were the lines of attack as well as what were the lines of

apologetic defence. Augustine's earliest controversial

reply to a Pagan writer dates in 390, that is just six

years after the famous controversy in Milan betweenS. Ambrose and the Prefect Symmachus.

2 The atmo-

sphere is much the same in Africa as it was at Milan;

only on the Catholic side there is a yet more serene

assurance of victory. The Pagan consciously representsa religion no longer supported by the State. TheChristian consciously possesses political influence as

well as spiritual. The Pagan is sarcastic or deferential,

mingling respect for the Church official with contemptfor his principles, but always curbed by consciousness of

dealing with a person in power. The Pagan's ideas of

Christianity are often quite inadequate, and sometimesmere misrepresentation. But he has a high conception

1 Much help will be found on this subject in Gaston Boissier,La Fin du Paganisme. Two vols. 1891. See also Leclercq,

LlAfrique Chretienne, Two vols. 1904.2Ambrose, Works. Migne, ii. 971 ; Augustine's Letter 18.

45


of a bishop's function;and while he does not hesitate

to use Christian terms in non-Christian senses, he can

appeal to a bishop on the basis of episcopal ideals.

Just a year before Augustine became a priest he re-

ceived a letter 1 from a Pagan grammarian of Madaura;

a scornful and contemptuous letter of criticism onChristian religious practices. Maximus, the writer of

this letter, admitted that the multitude of divinities wasa fiction invented by the Greeks. In his opinion the

existence of one Supreme Deity was a fact which noone could be so mad as to deny. God is a namecommon to all religions.

2

But what arouses his contempt is the host of dead menwhom Christians are elevating to the position of minordivinities. These heroes are quite impossible personswith appalling names. Maximus pours ridicule on such

names as Mygdon, Sanais, Namphanib :

3 names detest-

able alike to gods and men; martyrs who in his opinion

ended a scandalous career in a well-merited execution.

It reminded him of Egyptian monsters finding their wayamong the gods of Rome.

1 he writer calls on Augustine to set aside his usual

weapons of logic which aim at the demolition of all

certainty, and to inform him who that God is whomChristians claim as their peculiar possession and declare

to be present in hidden places.The writer says he has no doubt that this letter will

be thrown on the fire. But if so it will only involve the

destruction of a document, not of its contents, for he

has other copies which he intends to circulate freely.

Wherewith he takes farewell of the distinguished re-

cipient, whom he regards as an apostate from his own

religion ; ending with a hope that the gods may preserve

Augustine ;those gods through whom all mortals on the

1 Letter 16. (?) A.D. 390.2 Maximus might have learnt his opinions from Cicero.3 This is the Benedictine text. The Vienna Edition reads :

"Migginem, Sanamem, Namphamonem."


earth, in a thousand ways, and with discordant harmony,worship the one Common Father of gods and men.When Maximus alludes to the Christian Deity as one

Whom His adherents assert to be present in hidden

places, we may wonder whether he had heard of the

Presence in the Eucharist.

Such a letter laid itself open to the reply that it wasdifficult to know whether the writer was in earnest or in

jest.1

Augustine explains that the uncouth, outlandish

names of martyrs which offended so greatly the gram-marian's literary taste were after all only Punic appella-tions. Maximus as an African writing to Africans,since both he and Augustine were living in Africa,

ought not to be startled by the use of Punic names.If the grammarian is disposed to be scandalised by

names, there were many among the Pagan divinities whoought to offend him. Augustine gives him examples.

Augustine assures him that the private worship in

Christian places will bear favourable comparison with

what transpires in certain Pagan temples. He appealsto Maximus to find some question worthy of discussion

and he will meet him. Meanwhile let him rest assured

that Christian Catholics (there is a Church of them in

the grammarian's own city) do not worship the dead,and that no creature is adored as divine, but only the

one true God.In the year 408 the Pagan population at Calama, a

town where Possidius was Bishop, broke out into a

furious attack on their Christian fellow-citizens.2 Nec-

tarius, a leading Pagan, alarmed at the legal consequencesfor his town, implored Augustine to intercede for them.

The letter is interesting because it gives a contemporarypagan idea of a bishop. Nectarius recognises that the

offence will be punished very severely if dealt with accord-

ing to the laws of the State." But a bishop is guided

by another law. His duty is to promote the welfare of

1 Letter 17, A.D. 390.2 Letter 90.


men, to interest himself in any case only for the benefit

of the parties, and to obtain for other men the pardon of

their sins at the hand of Almighty God." Nectarius

acknowledges that compensation must be made. Hedeprecates retaliation. He is moved by a deeply patriotic

spirit and loves his country.To this appeal Augustine replied commending the

writer's 1patriotic zeal; but insisting that the highest

form of patriotism is that which is concerned for a

nation's eternal destinies. He criticises the contrast

between the Pagan moralists and the morals of the

pagan religion ; points out, as he does in the work onThe City of God, the effect of the Pagan legends on the

morals of young men; quotes to this effect from the

plays of Terence; urges the inconsistency of imitating

Cato rather than Jupiter in the daily conduct while

worshipping Jupiter rather than Cato in the temples ;

and insists on the blindness of worshipping in the templeswhat is ridiculed in the theatres.

If Nectarius is increasingly anxious the older hebecomes to leave his country in prosperity, let the

people be converted to the true worship of God.

Augustine quotes Nectarius's ideal of the conduct

appropriate for a bishop, and proceeds to give his

version of the facts during the recent riot. It was onthe ist of June, a Pagan festival, when a Pagan mobattacked the church at Calama with stones, attemptedto set it on fire, killed one of the Christians, while the

Bishop only escaped by concealment in some hole wherethe invaders failed to find him, although he could hear

their expressions of disappointed rage. Meanwhile the

secular authorities of the town did nothing to keep the

peace.

Augustine had himself visited the town since the out-

rage and addressed the Pagans. He assures Nectarius

that the concern of the Church is for the souls of the

1 Letter 91.


Pagans. As for the loss Christians will seek no com-

pensation.If justice is to be done to these outbursts of Pagan

violence it must be remembered that they were sufferingfrom the suppressive enactments of the State, and the

aggressive movement of the Church. In the year 400 the

great Pagan Temple at Carthage was closed by imperial

authority. Augustine himself in a letter (Letter 232,

3) speaks of the Pagan Temples in Africa being closed,or ruinous, or destroyed, or converted to other uses

;their

statues of the deities being broken or burnt or destroyed.It was ttu's destructive policy which provoked retaliation.

In the colony of Suffectana in Augustine's diocese

Christians destroyed the statue- of Hercules. As a con-

sequence sixty members of the Church were massacred

by the infuriated Pagan populace. Augustine wrote

promising to restore this emblem of Pagan religion.

"Gold, metals, and marble, shall all be supplied them.Will they please restore to the Church the sixty souls

who have been massacred." (Letter 50.)Sometimes a Pagan Temple was converted to Christian

purposes, sometimes a portion was incorporated in the

Church, or a church was built upon the foundation of

the older building.1

The Pagan had powerful incentives before his eyes for

exasperation as he passed along the familiar places of

his town, and saw the ancient religious landmarks com-

pletely revolutionised while he remained unconverted.

Augustine was conscious enough, and told the Pagansso in a letter, that it was one thing to remove the statues

from the temples, another thing to remove them fromtheir hearts.

Sometimes Augustine deals with difficulties which

Christianity presented to the Pagan mind.

There is a letter 2dealing with six questions raised by

1 Cf. Leclercq, LAfrique Chrettenne, II 87-88.2 Letter 102, A.D. 408.


Pagans, which illustrates the sort of criticism then madeon Christianity. The letter came from Carthage. Thesubjects are, the Resurrection of Christ

;the late period

at which the Christian religion arose;

the objectionraised by Christians to Pagan sacrifice while Christians

practise rites which are essentially similar; misconcep-

tions of Christ's teaching on retribution; difficulty in

believing the doctrine that God has a Son; exposition

of the Book of Jonah.The subjects are as miscellaneous and ill-assorted as

in a modern popular gathering of the sceptically disposed.

Augustine sent his reply in the form of a letter to the

priest Deogratias.1

Much confusion existed in the minds of inquirersbetween the raising of Lazarus and the Resurrection of

Christ. They were not clear which of these two repre-sented the Christian doctrine of the future resurrection.

Augustine had no difficulty in explaining the distinction.

The Pagan criticism 2 on the late arrival of Christianity

among religions was ably put by Porphyry. If Christ

is the Way and the Truth and the Life, what of the menwho lived in the centuries before Christ came ? It is noanswer to say that they possessed the religion of the

Jews : for that religion was of late beginning, andwhen it came was long confined to a narrow corner of

Syria.To these criticisms on the newness of Christianity,

Augustine replied3 that from the very beginning of the

human race men believed in the Word of God byanticipating His coming ;

and were undoubtedly saved

through Him. The pre-Christian ages looked forward

to His appearing ;the Christian ages look back to it.

Thus religion adopted one sacrificial form correspondingto the period of anticipation and another for the periodof retrospect. But the principle of faith in the Word of

God was the same, and the Salvation was the same.

1 Letter 102. 2 Letter 102, 8. 3 Letter 102, 11.


Moreover there is such a thing as Providential control

of human history,1by which the form of religion is

adapted to the stage of human progress. Augustinefurther suggests that Christianity

2 was providentiallywithheld from those times and places where men werenot prepared to believe in it. Men are more disposedto trust their human opinions than to yield themselvesto Divine authority. This is exactly the weakness of

human nature. Augustine is never tired of urging whathis personal experience accentuated, that the incapacityof human intelligence must find its refuge in divinely

given truth.

Nevertheless, it must never be forgotten that truth

has been revealed to men (sometimes more obviously,sometimes more obscurely) from the very beginning of

the human race. Augustine holds that revelation of

saving truth has never been withheld from any who was

worthy of it.

How Augustine harmonised these comprehensive pro-

positions with the Predestinarian severities of his later

career, or with his doctrine of the scanty number of the

elect, is not quite obvious. The great writer had a wayof flinging out separate aspects of truth and leavingthem unreconciled. Hence it is so often possible to

quote him in contradictory directions. But while the

austere propositions are remembered, the larger andmore merciful, not to say more just, ought not to be

forgotten.In reply to the criticism on Jonah and the whale,

Augustine observes that ridicule on the subject comes

inappropriately from a Pagan who believes miraculous

incidents equally startling of such persons as Apolloniusof Tyana. The Bishop has no doubt that it is literally

true.

He concludes by remarking that to delay faith until

detailed criticisms have all been solved is to reverse the

1 Letter 102, 13.a Letter 102, 14.


true order. For there are many difficulties which can

only be ended by faith. Otherwise life will be endedbefore faith begins.

Among Augustine's correspondents we find a youngman who l

requests the Bishop to send him explanationof a number of passages in Cicero. The young manwas frankly concerned to get a reputation for scholarlyattainments. He received in reply a letter of very con-

siderable length, in thirty-four sections, containing manyremarks of a sort which he had neither desired nor

expected. Augustine was greatly distressed at the

young man's vanity, and charged him with being moreconcerned for reputation than for knowledge. Did he

suppose that bishops had nothing better to do than

write comments on Cicero? Very unpalatable remarksfollowed on the emptiness of human praise and the

futility of ambition.

Let the young man picture himself with his Ciceronian

criticisms solved and his inquiries satisfied.2 Whatthen? Then he would gain the reputation of being a

learned man. But what then ? These criticisms are

not the fundamental problems of human life. Augustineis clear that young Dioscorus sees things out of all

proportion. The essential thing is the Way of Salva-

tion, the Christian Truth. There is no necessity for

Dioscorus to teach men the Dialogues of Cicero. Aknowledge of controversial errors is of service to the

teacher of Christian truth because it enables him to

answer objections and remove difficulties. But the main

thing is the knowledge of the truth. Augustine seemsto have felt that his correspondent was wasting his time

on obsolete speculations and philosophical objectionswhich no living person adopted. Dioscorus must learn

not to be ashamed to say he does not know. Augustinequotes the example of Themistocles. Themistocles at

the feast when asked to sing or play, replied that he

1 Letter 118, A.D. 410.2 Letter 118, 11.


knew no melody. They asked him, What then did heknow ? He answered,

"I know how to make a small

Republic great." Let Dioscorus be prepared to say of

many minor matters, I do not know. If asked, Whatthen do you know ? let him reply, I know how a manwithout this knowledge can be blessed.

So Augustine discovers what is the secret of a blessed

life. What is the highest good ? The answer must befound either in the body, or in the soul, or in God.

Hereupon follows a disquisition on philosophic andChristian schools of thought, much on the lines of the

sermon preached by Augustine on S. Paul at Athens

(Sermon 150).The highest good is not to be found in the body,

1 for

the soul is the body's superior. It would be senseless

to assert that the body is superior to the soul. The soul

does not receive the highest good from the body. Notto see this is to be blinded by sensual pleasure.

Neither is the highest good to be found in the soul.2

Otherwise the soul would never be wretched. Moreoverthe soul is changeable. At one time it is foolish, at

another wise. It cannot find the final good in itself.

Consequently, by elimination of these two, it follows

that the supreme good must be found in God : God the

immutable.

Here, as constantly, Augustine commends the Plato-

nists. 3 It would not require many changes of ideas to

make them Christians.

And here comes the famous passage4 in commenda-

tion of Humility : one of the noblest sentences ever

written in praise of that most distinctively Christian

Virtue. Dwelling on the thought, What is the way to

reach the truth ? Augustine writes :

" In that way the first part is humility ;the second,

humility ;the third, humility : and this I would continue

1 Letter 118, 14.2 Letter 118, 15.

3 Letter 118, 21.4 Letter 118, | 22.


to repeat as often as you might ask direction;not that

there are no other instructions which may be given, but

because, unless humility precede, accompany, and follow

every good action which we perform, being at once the

object which we keep before our eyes, the support to

which we cling, and the monitor by which we are

restrained, any good work on which we are congratu-

lating ourselves is wholly wrested from our hand bypride."

*

This Christian Virtue of Humility is a necessary

consequence of the Incarnation. Our Lord was humili-

ated in order to teach humility.And here Augustine, in spite of his deprecatory

remarks on classical studies, shows a thorough know-

ledge of Cicero's opinions on the nature of the Deity,and contrasts the Christian doctrine of the personalWord of God, a doctrine which none could realise unless

God revealed it.

Then after an acute criticism on Democritus and the

theory of the fortuitous concourse of atoms,2Augustine

asks his correspondent Dioscorus to consider whether

any method would be better adapted for the enlighten-ment of the human race than the Incarnation. 3 For in

the Incarnation the Truth itself clothed itself in Man-hood (et ipsius in terris personam gerens), taught the

ideal, and realised the idea4 in Divine deeds. By assent

to the authority of the Incarnate One we escape fromthe reign of perplexity into the atmosphere of pure and

perfect truth.

Then with a reference to Plotinus, or rather to his

disciples at Rome, the letter closes with an acknowledg-ment that he has answered some of Dioscorus's inquiries,and deliberately set many aside, and doubtless treated

him otherwise than his correspondent desired, but in a

manner which he will appreciate as he matures. The

1 Letter 118, 22, Cunninghams translation, i. 109.2 Letter 118, 28-31.

3 Letter 118, 32.


whole reply would have been impossible had not Augus-tine been at a distance from Hippo recruiting himselfafter an illness.

Another supporter of the old Pagan religion is metin the person of Volusian. Volusian was a man of

distinction, education, and influence, who had succeededin frustrating many a conversion to Christianity. Volu-sian's mother was a Christian, and she begged the

Tribune Marcellinus to bring what influence he couldto bear upon her son. Volusian had come across

Augustine and conversed with him on the subject of

religion. Volusian was evidently much impressed,1 and

afterwards wrote a letter to the Bishop in which, withmuch deference and profession of admiration for the

Bishop's eloquence, he propounds certain criticisms onthe doctrine of the Incarnation.

That the Lord of the Universe should have passedthrough the process of human beginnings and have beenborn of a Virgin, and have passed through the successive

stages of infancy, childhood, adolescence, and maturity,is to his mind utterly inconceivable. The absence of

the Deity from His proper throne is quite incredible.

Augustine's ability imposes on him the obligation of a

solution to these difficulties. Ignorance may exist in

other priests without detriment to their religious func-

tions, but when Augustine is approached there is noroom for ignorance to exist. VVith which elaborate

compliment his letter closes.

Marcellinus had written 2privately to Augustine

begging him to answer Volusian's criticisms.

To Volusian's inquiries Augustine accordingly replies,3

insisting first that the Christian doctrine is so profoundthat if a man studies it from early youth to decrepit old

age, with the concentration of all his powers, it maystill be truly said that when he has finished he has onlybegun.

Volusian is bidden first to understand what the

* Letter 135. A.0.412.2 Letter 136.

3 Letter 137. A. 0.412.


Christian doctrine is. The doctrine of the Incarnation

does not mean that the Person Who became Man * andwas born of a Virgin abandoned the direction of the

Universe, or was limited to the space of an infant's body.God cannot be estimated by physical dimensions. Heis not contained in space like water, or air, or light.He comes without departing whence He was, and

departs without abandoning whence He came.2

If the human mind marvels at these propositions andis disposed to discredit them, Augustine advises Volusianto consider the marvels involved in the relations of bodyand spirit in himself, and how totally inexplicable it all

is. And let him be prepared for the probability of

greater mysteries in Deity.Thus, in Augustine's view, the narrow limits of our

knowledge of ourselves, which is not infrequently urgedas a proof of our incapacity for any real knowledge of

God, should rather lead us to accept on the authorityof revelation, facts in the Godhead which we could not

otherwise ascertain. If our human limitations are an

argument against knowledge they are an incentive to

faith. It is instructive to notice that Augustine draws

exactly the opposite inference to that which is commonlydrawn from the acknowledged fact of our limitations.

God comes by self-manifestation. He departs byself-concealment. But He is present whether manifestor concealed.3

Thus there are no such consequences involved in

Incarnation as Volusian supposes. As to the mysteriousnature of Incarnation and of the Virgin Birth, "if the

reason of this event is required, it would cease to bemiraculous. If a parallel is demanded, it would ceaseto be unique." Augustine was afterwards challengedfor this statement. He explained that he did not mean

1 Deus infusus carni.2 Letter 137. Novit ubique totus esse, et nullo contineri loco ;

novit

venire non recedendo uti erat;novit abere non deserendo quo venerat.

3J,etter 137, 7.


by this statement that a miracle is an event which has

no reason. "I said this," he wrote,

" not because the

event was without a reason, but because the reason of it

is concealed." (Letter 1 6 1.) "Let it be granted that

God is able to do what transcends our comprehension."Further he maintains Mary's perpetual Virginity.The gradual transition of Christ through the stages of

human life was a necessity of His Mediation. 1 Had it

been otherwise the inference must have been the unrealityof His Manhood.

Some, observes Augustine,2 insist on demanding an

explanation of the manner in which God was blendedwith Man 3 to make One Person in Christ. As if theywere able to explain what is of daily occurrence : the

manner in which body and soul are blended to makeone person in man.

Accordingly, the great writer tells Volusian what In-

carnation means.4 It is essentially that the Word of

God took Manhood (suscepit hominem) and made Him-self one with it: equal to the Father according to His

Divinity, and less than the Father according to the

Flesh. We notice here, as so often, phrases which are

almost identical with the Athanasian formula. 5 Thisaction of the Word of God occurred at the time whichHe knew to be most appropriate and had eternallydetermined.

The two main purposes of the Incarnation are in

Augustine's view Instruction and Strength (Magisterium ;

Adjutorium).i. Enlightenment, instruction, came by Christ. Truths,

indeed, had been already before the Incarnation taughtto men : partly by the sacred Prophets, partly also

by Pagan philosophers and poets, who mingled muchtruth with elements which are false. But the Incar-

nation confirmed what was true by God's own authority.1 Letter 137, 9.

2 Letter 137, u.3 Letter 137. Quomodo Deus homini permixtus sit.

4 Letter 137, 12.5

Cf. esp. the Treatise on the Trinity.


Although the Truth before He became incarnate pre-sented Himself to all who were capable of receiving truth.

2. But not only is enlightenment a purpose of the

Incarnation. The other main purpose is strength or

help. For without grace no one can overcome evil

desires.

If objectors urge" that the authority of Christ was not

shown with sufficient distinctness above the miraculous

powers which existed under the Jewish dispensation,"

Augustine points to the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection,and the Ascension, as the supreme instances, unparalleledmanifestations of power.Augustine here draws a brilliant outline of the pre-

parations for Christ in history. The call of Abraham,the selection of Israel, its training, its discipline, its fail-

ings, and its receptiveness down to the Incarnation of

Christ. Prophets, priesthood, sacrifices, and the Templeitself, were all Sacraments or sacred signs of that

crowning event.

To these preparations succeeded the realisation.

Christ appeared. His life, words, deeds, suffering, deathand Resurrection and Ascension, correspond and fulfil the

anticipations. Then came the descent of the Spirit andthe work of the Church. Augustine describes in elo-

quent terms the Church's growth and influence, . the

opposition of the Pagan world, and the strange evi-

dential position of the Jews. The chosen peopledethroned, dispersed, carrying everywhere their sacred

books which are evidences to the truth of Christianity.

They are the Church's librarians, bearing the bookswhich are only explicable in the light of Christianity.The very heresies which oppose the name of Christ doin reality support that against which they contend.Thus everything converges and contributes to verifythe truth of the Catholic Religion.

This remarkable letter, written in the year 412, was

produced while the writer's mind was full of his great

reply to Paganism which appeared later in the work on


The City of God. The letter to Volusian has been

rightly regarded as an outline or preliminary sketch of

that masterly production.When Augustine had been a bishop some years he

received a curious letter of friendly congratulation fromthe Pagans of Madaura, a place familiar to the readers

of the Confessions as the school where he was placed in

preparation for higher studies at Carthage. Madaurawas near to Hippo. It was the place from which hehad to be withdrawn owing to the narrow resources 1 of

his family. The Pagans of Madaura evidently wantedto conciliate this powerful opponent, and fellow-country-

man, the Christian Bishop. They addressed him in

phrases which had a Christian sound, wished him eternal

salvation in the Lord, and added," We wish that for

many years your lordship may always, in the midst of

your clergy, be glad in God and His Christ."

Augustine in his reply declares that at first 2 he

thought himself reading a letter composed by Christians,and supposed that the people of Madaura had becomeconverted. He objected greatly to their misleading use

of Christian expressions. Referring to the closing of the

Pagan sanctuaries by the laws of the Emperor Honorius,he told them that Paganism was more easily excludedfrom their temples than from their hearts.

Augustine appealed to the dispersion of the Jews ;

3 to

the marvellous rise and extension of Christianity ;to the

fulfilment of predictions with regard to heresies andschisms from the Christian society ;

to the ApostolicSees and the succession of bishops ;

to the overthrow of

idols;to the Pagan temples falling into ruin and neglect ;

to the State accepting the religion of men who died for

the truth;the chief of the noblest empire in the world

laying aside his crown and kneeling as a suppliant at

the tomb of the fisherman Peter.

1Confessions, II. 5, p. 154.

2 Letter 232, p. 1279.3 Letter 232, 3.


Augustine assures these unfortunate Pagans, who after

all were only maintaining the religion of their fathers,that not one of them will be able in the last judgmentto plead anything in defence of his unbelief. He tells

them that they cannot avoid mentioning the name of

Christ. The Pagan flatterer and the Christian worship-per both repeat the name :

" Christianus venerator, et

paganus adulator";but they will have to give account

for their use of it.

After these warnings as to their spiritual peril,1

Augustine proceeds to give an exposition of the Christian

doctrine of the Trinity and of the Incarnation. TheIncarnation is represented

2 as the supreme revelation of

lowliness and of gentleness, and therefore the remedyfor human pride and violence. God subduing us bypersuasion, not by force, through the amazing act of

Divine condescension. They are not bidden to contem-

plate an imperial Christ, nor a wealthy Christ, nor a

prosperous Christ, but a Crucified Christ. For there is

nothing more powerful than the humility of God.Then the letter closes with an appeal to the people of

Madaura as his fellow-citizens who have given him this

opportunity of speaking to Pagans something concerningChrist.

It was. the Pagan people themselves who made this

overture and gave the Bishop his opportunity. Atother times Augustine himself took the initiative. 3 Wefind him writing to ask Longinian, a Pagan philosopher,what he thought concerning Christ. That the philo-

sopher regards Christ with reverence he is aware. Whathe desires to know is whether Longinian regards Christ's

teaching as the only way to a blessed life. The date of

this letter is unknown.

Longinian, in an interesting reply,4

gives the con-

temporary Pagan view. He writes with evident em-

1 Letter 232, 5. .


'

4 Letter 234.


barrassment. For Paganism is now discountenanced byimperial law. Longinian is himself a Platonist and a

believer in God. The approach to God is throughrighteous acts and words. And by aid of the lesser

divinities whom the Christians call Angels, men are

intended to reach the one ineffable Creator. There is

need for this purpose of purification and of expiation,of self-discipline and self-control.

But as to the Christ by whom Augustine and the

Christians feel themselves sure to reach the supremeFather of all, Longinian confesses he is perplexed, heknows not what to say. He has great regard for

Augustine, and his religious aspirations.

Longinian's answer encouraged Augustine to write

again,1

partly on account of the philosopher's cautious

attitude of suspense. He rejoiced that Longinian wouldneither rashly assent nor deny anything concerningChrist. He rejoices that Longinian is willing to read

what Augustine has written on the subject. There is

one point, however, on which he desires further discus-

sion. Longinian maintains that purification by sacred

rites, expiation by sacrifice, is part of the way of

approach to the one Father of the gods. But if a manrequires to be purified by sacrifice, then he is not yet

pure; and if he is not yet pure, he is not living the

righteous life. Augustine desires to know what place

Longinian assigns to sacrificial cleansing in the deve-

lopment of a religious life.

Longinian's reply unfortunately does not exist. It

will not escape the reader how keenly Augustine seizes

on the central question of expiation, as a Paganacknowledgment of personal imperfection and of humaninability to reach the Divine unaided

;how he passes

by subordinate interests, and fixes attention on the

one subject which seems to promise best a way to

appreciate Christian principles.

1 Letter 235.


A letter of Augustine's to Bishop Deuterius * showsus something of the intrusion of non-Christian principlesinto the Church. It appears that a certain sub-deaconnamed Victorinus, a man advanced in years, was

secretly an adherent of the Manichaean heresy. Augus-tine had deposed him on his own admission. Victorinus

was a Manichaean of the preliminary class called" Hearers." He had not been admitted to be one of the"Elect." Augustine's object in mentioning this to

Deuterius is to warn him against admitting Victorinus

among his penitents. Augustine further takes the

opportunity of explaining to Deuterius the main

practices of the Manichaeans. He informs him that the

Hearers are permitted to eat flesh and to marry, neither

of which things are permitted to the Elect. They say

prayers to the sun and the moon, they fast on the Lord's

Day, they deny the doctrine of the Virgin Birth and the

reality of the Incarnation. They neither believe in

the Passion nor in the Resurrection. They hold that

the Jewish Law is a product of the Prince of Darkness.

They believe that animals as well as men have souls,

and that souls are a part of God. They hold that the

good and the evil principles have become intermingledand confused

;that the good is to be liberated by the

wholesome action of the sun and the moon, and that

such part of the Divine nature as cannot be extricated

from this confusion will be condemned for ever.

1 Letter 236.

CHAPTER III

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GOD

A LETTER to Nebridius 1is important because it

shows that the problems of the doctrine of the Trinity,which were afterwards to mature in Augustine's won-derful treatise, were already occupying his mind sometwo years afier his conversion. Already he was dis-

cussing how to reconcile the inseparability of the Personsin the Trinity with the fact that the Son alone becameincarnate.

Count Pascentius was an Arian who boldly attackedthe Catholic belief, and exerted much influence over

clergy of the less instructed sort. Pascentius set him-self in opposition to Augustine at a conference in Car-

thage, where he assembled a number of leading people.

Augustine demanded that shorthand writers should beadmitted in order to secure an accurate report of the

discussion. 2 Pascentius objected to this, apparently onthe ground that it was not legal for a person in his official

position. Accordingly the proceedings had to be of a

private nature. They were, as might be expected,utterly unsatisfactory.

In an account of the incident,3Augustine complains

that Pascentius propounded propositions to which hedid not adhere

;made dogmatic statements in the

morning and changed the wording in the afternoon.

When the discussion began, Count Pascentius affirmed

faith in God the Father Almighty unbegotten, and in

1 Letter n, A.D. 389.2

Vita, auctore Possidio, 19.3 Letter 238.

63

64 THE LETTERS OF ST, AUGUSTINE

Jesus Christ His Son, God born before the ages, byWhom all things were made

;and in the Holy Spirit.

Augustine on hearing this replied that he was pre-

pared to endorse this statement of faith.

Pascentius then proceeded to denounce l the use of

the term Homoousion, and to require to be shown that

it was a scriptural expression.

Augustine claimed that the proper course would befirst to ascertain what the expression means, and then

to consider whether it could be found in the Scriptures.For men ought to contend for principles and not for

words.

However, as Pascentius refused to allow this course,

Augustine asked whether the phrase which Pascentius

himself had formulated, that the Father is unbegotten,can be found in Scripture. And if it could, whetherPascentius would kindly indicate the passage. To this

it was replied,u Do you then believe that the Father

was begotten ?"

Augustine answered " No." To whichhis opponent replied,

" Then if He is not begotten Hemust be unbegotten." Augustine thereupon rejoined," You see then that a reason may be given to justifythe use of a term which is not in Scripture."

2 A similar

justification may be made for the term Homoousion.The Arians could not answer this. But in the Con-

ference in the afternoon they withdrew their own expres-sion that the Father was unbegotten, and called on

Augustine to formulate his own belief. But Augustineinsisted that they must deal with Pascentius's own decla-

ration. Pascentius accordingly repeated his principles,but omitted the terms employed before about the Father.

This of course made any definite di'scussion hopeless.Pascentius then descended to personalities about

Augustine's intellectual reputation. The meeting broke

up having accomplished nothing.

Augustine subsequently sent Pascentius an exposition

1 Letter 238, 4.2 Letter 238, 5.

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GOD 65

of the Catholic Belief. 1 Here he expressed his faith in

the One God and the Only Begotten Son, and in the

Spirit Who is the Spirit2 both of God the Father and

of His Only Begotten Son. The Scripture phrase, "Whoonly hath immortality,"

3applies not only to the Father

but also to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.The Father and the Son are one God. As Christ

Himself said :

"I and my Father are One." Father-

hood and Sonship are relative attributes.4 But the

Substance of the Godhead is One. Father, Son and

Holy Spirit are not three Gods, but one God. 5 TheSon of Man and the Son of God are identical. Thisis only another way of affirming the Incarnation.6 TheLord, thy God, is one Lord. But when S. Thomasexclaimed " My Lord and my God !

"Christ, so far

from rebuking him, commended him;for He answered,

" Because thou hast seen Me thou hast believed." Thusthe Father is Lord and God

;the Son also is Lord and

God;and yet the Lord thy God is one Lord. "To us

there is but one God, the Father . . . and one Lord JesusChrist" (i Cor. viii. 5, 6).

And the Son of God became the Son of Man, not bychanging what He was, but by assuming what He wasnot. 7

Moreover, the Father was never without His Son

any more than the eternal light can be without its

brightness.8 The generation of the Son must be eternal.

Augustine informs Pascentius that this is his faith.

As to the claim that Pascentius has refuted Augustine,the real question is whether the Homoousion is refuted. 9

It is easy for men to ridicule a great word which theydo not understand. But let them look at the Scripturewords :

"I and my Father are One." What else can that

mean but that they are of one and the same substance?

1 Letter 238, 10. 2 Letter 238, 10.3 Letter 238, n. 4 Letter 238, 14.5 Letter 258, 16. 6 Letter 238, 18.7 Letter 238, 21. 8 Letter 238, 24.9 Letter 238, 28.


Augustine wrote a second letter,1reminding Pascen-

tius how greatly the Arian had changed the wording of

his profession of faith.

One version of it was,"

I believe in God the FatherWho made the Son first of the creatures before all other

creatures;and in the Son Who is neither equal to the

Father nor like Him nor true God;and in the Holy

Spirit Who was made after the Son and by the Son."If this is Pascenttus's Creed, Augustine desires to knowhow he proposes to defend it out of the Scriptures ?

The other version was,"

I believe in God the Father

Almighty, invisible, immortal, unbegotten, of Whomare all things; and in His Son Jesus Christ, God bornbefore the ages, by Whom all things were made. Andin the Holy Spirit."

This version Augustine can accept. It appears that

the Arian was prepared to believe in the Virgin Birth.

To these letters Count Pascentius wrote a short

contemptuous reply,2 in which he expresses regret that

Augustine has not abandoned his errors, but makes no

attempt to discuss either Augustine's faith or his own.All he does is to throw out a question. If there are

Three, which of them is God ? Or is there una personatriformis ?

Augustine hastens to reply that he does not maintaina triformis persona. There is one form because there

is one Deity.It is curious that in these letters Augustine says

nothing of the psychological and moral arguments whichinvolve a Trinity, and which occupy so important a

place in the Bishop's great treatise on this doctrine.

What was the outcome of the correspondence is

unknown. It may have served some purpose in sup-

porting Catholics at Carthage.A thoughtful correspondent named Consentius sent

for Augustine's inspection and revision an outline of



his ideas about the Trinity.1 He held that the truth

in things divine was rather to be perceived by faith

than by reason. For if the Doctrine of the Church wasderived from the discussions of reason rather than fromthe assent of faith, Religion would be rather the privilegeof the philosophic few than of the unlearned many.But since God was pleased to choose the weak thingsof this world whereby to confound the strong, and to

save believers by the foolishness of the Christian preach-

ing, it was clear that we were not so much to dependon reason as on the authority of the saints.

Consentius thereupon proceeded to propound dis-

tinctions between the Divine Substance and the Divine

Persons.

Augustine in reply observes 2 that Consentius asks

him to discuss the oneness of the Deity and the dis-

tinctions of the persons. Yet Consentius himself urgesthat we ought rather to follow the authority of the

Saints than the inference of reason. But if the stress is

thus to be laid on authority why should Consentius

appeal to Augustine for reasons? The truth is, that

both faith and reason have their function. Let himhold the doctrine by faith, and endeavour to apprehendit by reason. God does not endow us with reason with-

out intending it to be used.3 The exercise of faith

presupposes a rational intelligence. Faith comes first

because there are things which reason cannot as yet

perceive. But reason must be exercised on the contents

of faith. There are things concerning which a rational

explanation cannot be given ;

4 not because it does not

exist, but because we have not yet discovered it. Faith

prepares the mind for intellectual appreciation.

Contemplating therefore the doctrine of the Trinityin the light of these presuppositions, we are not to

shrink from the use of reason but only from its abuses.


3 Letter 120, 3.* Letter 120, 5.


Thus the theory that the Son is inferior to the Fatheris not to be rejected because it is rationalising butbecause it is false reasoning.

1

To avoid false reasoning it is essential to rid the mindof material and spacial analogies.

2 The Trinity is not

to be conceived as three individuals in spacial juxta-

position. Nor is the Divinity to be regarded as a

fourth element beyond the Trinity. Nor are the ThreePersons to be regarded as existing nowhere but in

Heaven while the Deity itself is regarded as everywherepresent. All these theories are to be completelyabandoned and dispelled.What is to be maintained is this: that the Father

and the Son and the Holy Spirit are the Trinity and

yet one God;

3 that there is not a fourth element of

Deity in addition to the Trinity. All corporeal similitudes

are to be avoided, rejected and cast out. Augustinewarns against the danger of materialistic conceptionsof Deity by a string of imperatives : abige, abnue, nega,

respice, abjice, fuge. And this rejection of the false is

a great step towards acceptance of the true. For it is

no small beginning of the Knowledge of God if, before

we can know what He is, we begin to know what Heis not.

And further, the theory which locates the substanceof the Father exclusively in Heaven,4 while it ascribes

ubiquity to the Deity ;as if the Trinity were localised

and material, while the Deity was everywhere presentas incorporeal ;

this theory is to be unquestionablyrepudiated.The true doctrine is that the Father and the Son and

the Holy Spirit is a Trinity and is one God. For it is

inseparably of one and the same substance, or more

properly, essence. 5 There is no other essence of Godbeside the Trinity.

1 Letter 120, 6. 2 Letter 120, 7.3 Letter 120, 13.

4 Letter 120, 16.5 Letter 120, 17.


Materialistic conceptions of God's Nature appear to

have been popular in Africa among Churchmen as well

as beyond the Church's limits. Augustine wrote several

times on the Vision of God, insisting that God cannoteither here or hereafter be seen by bodily eyes. It appearsthat a certain African bishop was greatly offended by a

letter in which Augustine refuted such materialistic

views. Augustine in a characteristic letter 1 to BishopFortunatianus requests the recipient to intervene in his

behalf with the offended person, asking his forgivenessfor any want of consideration in the letter which, how-

ever, he does not regret having written. The substanceof his former teaching on the Vision of God is rein-

forced and supported by quotations from Ambrose;

from Jerome, whom he calls holy and a man of God;

from Athanasius;

and finally from a writing, which

Augustine ascribes to Gregory, a holy Eastern bishop,but which "as a fact appears to have been a Latin

composition mistakenly incorporated among GregoryNazianzen's genuine discourses.2

Augustine writes earnestly warning against the

anthropomorphic tendencies of the popular theology.The entire physical terminology of Scripture by whichGod is represented must be interpreted in an allegorical

way. Thus, the Wings of God signify Protection;and

the Hands of God, His Working ;and the Eyes of

God, His Knowledge. This interpretation, Augustineassures his reader, is traditional and no invention of

his own. 3

This leads him to dwell on the difference between the

authority of Scripture and the authority of Catholic

expositors." The reasonings of any men whatsoever, even though

they be Catholics, and of high reputation, are not to

be treated by us in the same way as the Canonical

Scriptures are treated. We are at liberty, without doing

1 Letter 148, A.D. 413.2

cf. p. 15.3 Letter 148, 13.


any violence to the respect which these men deserve, to

condemn and reject anything in their writings, if per-chance we shall find that they have entertained opinions

differing from that which others or we ourselves have,

by the Divine help, discovered to be the truth. I deal

thus with the writings of others, and I wish myintelligent readers to deal thus with mine." 1

And here comes a remarkable passage on the Resurrec-

tion Body of Christians.2" As to the spiritual body which

we shall have in the resurrection, how great a changefor the better it is to undergo : whether it shall become

pure spirit, so that the whole man shall then be a spirit,

or shall (as I rather think, but do not yet confidently

affirm) become a spiritual body in such a way as to becalled spiritual because of a certain ineffable facility

in its movements, but at the same time to retain its

material substance," Augustine confesses that he hadnot read anything sufficiently established to be madethe basis of instruction.

This last paragraph deserves serious attention. It

was written about the year 413. It is incomparablyless materialistic and less confident than the teaching

given in the closing books of the work on the City of

God (De Civ. Dei, XXII. 12 ff. p. 1077). There is an

openness of mind and a cautiousness of expression in the

letter which is sadly lacking in the later treatise. Thefinal book on the City of God was probably written

some twelve years later than the letter, but it reveals

a harder doctrine contrasting unfavourably with the

passage here. In the City of God Augustine considers

that the measure of the stature of Christ is the physical

height to which those who died in infancy will grow.Evodius, Augustine's friend, frequently sent the

Bishop strings of questions to explain. Out of one

series Augustine selected two : one concerning the

1 Letter 148, 15. Cunningham's translation.2 Letter 148, 16.


Holy Trinity, another concerning the appearance of

a Dove at the Baptism of our Lord. 1

This letter is also of interest owing to the information

it gives about the progress of Augustine's literarylabours. He tells Evodius that he has now finished

the first five books of the treatise on the City of God.Thesa five are an answer to those who consider that

Pagan divinities are to be worshipped for the sake of

advantages in the present world. He will next proceedto answer those who maintain that Pagan divinities are to

be worshipped for the sake of advantages in the worldto come. He has also dictated three expositions on the

Psalms, and is being pressed urgently to dictate more.Meanwhile the books on the Trinity which have been

long in hand are still delayed. Augustine thinks

they will not be intelligible to many persons. More

widely useful works may, therefore, rightly take

precedence.

Augustine begins by correcting a misapprehensionby Evodius of a text in S. Paul. Evodius applies the

words: " He that is ignorant shall be ignored" (i Cor.

xiv. 38), to those who are unable to discern the unity of

the Trinity in the same manner as the unity of memory,understanding, and will in the human soul is discussed.

Augustine advises Evodius to consult the original pas-

sage again. He will then realise that the reference is

to persons who caused disorder by their insubordinate

use of spiritual gifts within the Church. Such personsshould be ignored, that is rejected.

Augustine warns Evodius 2against supplying this

sentence to persons of small intellectual insight. If

Christ died only for the intellectually discerning, the

labour of the Church is almost in vain. The fact is,

that throngs of simple-minded folk without much intel-

lectual power crowd in to the Great Physician andare cured by the Crucified : while some, who pride

1 Letter 169, A.D. 415.- Letter 169, 4.


themselves on their intellectual ability, wander far awayfrom the path that leads to eternal life.

What, then, we Christians must firmly hold and believe

concerning the Trinity is this : We must believe in

one God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.At the same time we must believe "

that the Son is not

He Who is the Father, and the Father is not H* Whois the Son, and neither the Father nor the Son is HeWho is the Spirit of both the Father and the Son.""Let no separation be imagined to exist in this Trinityeither in time or space ;

but that these Three are equaland co-eternal, and absolutely of one nature

;and that

the creatures one and all which have been created or are

being created subsist in the Trinity as their Creator;

not that some were created by the Father and some bythe Son and some by the Holy Spirit ;

also that no oneis saved by the Father without the Son and the HolySpirit, or by the Son without the Father and the HolySpirit, or by the Holy Spirit without the Father andthe Son

;but by the Father, the Son and the Holy

Spirit, the only one true and truly immortal (that is,

absolutely unchangeable) God." xNevertheless, adds

Augustine, many things are said in Scripture concerningeach of the Three separately, teaching us that althoughthe Trinity is inseparable, at the same time it is a

Trinity.

Thus, at the Baptism of Christ, the Father is heardin the Voice, the Son is seen in the human nature, the

Spirit in the bodily form of a Dove. The Three are

present separately but they are not separated.

Augustine illustrates this by the co-existence of

memory, understanding and will in the human soul. 2

He warns Evodius, however, that the illustration is

imperfect, for whereas these three human faculties are

not the soul but exist in the soul " the Trinity does not

exist in God but is God." The point of the illustration

1 Letter 169, 5.2 Letter 169, 6.


is that as in man so in God the three are inseparable in

operation.In the scene at the Baptism of Christ the Voice is not

permanently united with the person of the Father,1 nor

the Dove with the person of the Holy Spirit. Both the

sound and the appearance passed away. It is the man-hood alone (for whose deliverance the entire dispensationwas brought about), which was brought into unity with

the person of the Word of God, by a wondrous and

unique assumption. Nevertheless the Word remains in

His own nature immutable. The human nature cameto the Word. The Word did not come to the humannature by a process of change. Thus He continues to

be the Son of God while He has assumed humanity.2

Thus the assumption of humanity by the Word,3 or

Son of God, has made no increase in the number of the

persons. The Trinity remains a Trinity still. For justas in every man, that one alone excepted Whom Heassumed into union with Himself, the soul and bodyconstitute one person, so in Christ the Word and Hishuman soul and body constitute one person.

4

This unity of person makes it possible to speak

concerning the Son of God under either of the two

natures, either as human or divine. Then it is correct

to say that God was crucified, just as you say a philo-

sopher dies, although that is only true of him in his body,and not in his mind.

1 Letter 169, 7.2 Letter 169, 7. Solus homo, quia propter ipsam naturam

liberandam ilia omnia fiebant, in unitatem personae Verbi Dei,hoc est unici Filii Dei, mirabili et singular! susceptione coaptatusest, permanente tamen Verbo in sua natura incommutabiliter. . . Homo autem Verbo accessit, non Verbum in hominemconvertibiliter accessit . . .

3 Letter 169, 8.

4 Non enim homine assumpto personarum numerus auctus est,

sed eadem Trinitas mansit. Nam sicut in homine quolibet, praeterunum ilium qui singulariter susceptus est, anima et corpus una

persona est ;ita in Christo Verbum et homo una persona est,


Towards the close of this letter 1Augustine informs

Evodius that he has written to Jerome concerning the

origin of the soul. Jerome had maintained the crea-

tionist theory that a new soul is created at every birth.

Augustine desires to be informed how this theory can

be harmonised with the doctrine of original sin.

A studious young Spaniard, the priest Orosius, wasat this time (A.D. 415) on a visit to Augustine to consult

him on the heresy of the Priscillianists and concerningsome opinions of Origen which the Church had not

accepted. Augustine induced Orosius to go to Palestine

on a visit to Jerome. So he became Augustine's letter

carrier.

The sequel will be found in the correspondence with

Jerome.This does not complete the list of Augustine's

occupations. He has also written a book against

Pelagianism at the request of some of the brethren

who had been led astray into that error. The bookwas apparently the treatise on Nature and Grace. If

Evodius wants these books Augustine advises him to

send a copyist. Meanwhile for himself the great writer,

evidently a little wearied, pleads to be left uninterruptedto study matters urgently necessary and in his opinionmore important than some of Evodius's questions, whichare of interest to very few.

There is an interesting letter written by Alypius2 and

Augustine to Maximus, a physician recently converted

from the Arian heresy to the Catholic Faith, urging

upon him to impart to others the truth which he now

accepts. It is noteworthy that Augustine puts first the

Unity of God. There is only one God to Whom divine

worship is due. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy Godand Him only shalt thou serve. But divine worship is

not only due to the Father, but also to the Son. Andthis can only be the case because both Father and Son

1 Letter 169, 13.2 Letter 170


are included within the Divine Unity. There is more-over the Holy Spirit to Whom also divine worship is

due. The Unity includes a Trinity. The Son is ofthe Substance of the Father

;eternal as the Father is.

There is no temporal priority. The Father was neverwithout the Son. Augustine illustrates by the lightwhich is co-equal with the flame. The Spirit proceedsfrom the Father and the Son.

This Trinity is of one and the same nature andsubstance. It is not less in each than in all. God is

neither confusedly One nor separatedly Three. (Neeconfuse unum sunt, nee disjuncte tria sunt.)The letter is chiefly concerned with explaining that

like generates like;1 that the son of a man has the

qualities of his father, and the Son of God the qualitiesof His Father. Thus the Son of God is the Father's

equal. This equality is inherent and essential. It is

not something subsequently acquired, as of one who,being naturally unequal, rose to equality.Also when it is said

" the Father is greater than I"

the reference is to the Son as Incarnate. 2 Whereas "I

and my Father are One "refers to the Son in His own

self.

Augustine pleads most earnestly with the convert to

instruct his former associates and to bring them into the

Catholic Faith.

Leporius was a Gallican monk condemned by certain

Bishops of his country of erroneous opinions about the

Incarnation, He was sent to Hippo to be instructed byAugustine and if possible to be reclaimed. Augustinesucceeded in convincing him. Leporius was ready to

believe that the Word was God, but not that the Wordbecame flesh. He denied that God was made man.The ground of this denial was a fear of introducing

mortality into the substance of God. Incarnation

seemed to him to detract from the equality of the Word

1 Letter 170, 8.2 Letter 170, 9.


with God the Father. Augustine showed him that, in

his anxiety to maintain the immortality of God, he hadin reality introduced a fourth person into the Trinity.For he had elevated the Man Jesus to a level with Deitywhile denying that Jesus was the Word made flesh.

Augustine has explained the position very briefly, but

this appears to be the essence of Leporius's view and of

his own reply to it.

Augustine wrote to the Galilean Bishops, Procopiusand Cylinnius,

1certifying that Leporius was now

orthodox. Leporius openly recanted his error. He is

mentioned by Cassian in his work on the Incarnation,2

and by others, with admiration, as a man of exemplarylife, and was afterwards raised to the priesthood.

1 Letter 219, A.D. 427.2 Gaume, I. 4. See Appendix to Augustine. Tom. X. p. 2398.

[These letters on the Christian doctrine concerning God should

only be taken as an introduction to the great writer's teaching in

his Confessions, in his Expositions of St. Johns Gospel, and aboveall in the Treatise on the Trinity^

CHAPTER IV

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS 1

To appreciate Augustine's letters on African ChurchDivisions it is necessary to recall the principal facts of

their history prior to Augustine's time.

The divisions had existed since A.D. 311. It was oneof the indirect results of the Diocletian persecutionin A.D. 305. In that persecution many an African

Christian failed. The clergy were required to surrender

their sacred books to be destroyed. Mensurius, Primate,

Bishop of Carthage, instead of yielding the Scriptures,

presented a quantity of heretical writing to the magis-trates, who, on being informed of the Primate's subtlety,refused to allow further investigation. So Mensurius

escaped. If his measures were unheroic they were

prudent. He did his utmost to discourage a fanaticism

in the Church which courted danger, and provoked an

ordeal which it might not have the power to endure.

In these measures he was throughout supported by his

Archdeacon Caecilian.

Now there existed among the bishops of the Province

1Help will be found on this subject in the following works :

Noris, Historia Donatistarum, ed. Ballerini. 4 Vols. Verona

1732.

Morcelli, Africa Christiana, 3 Vols. 1816.

Reuter, Augustinische Studien.

Ribbeck, Donatismus, 1858.

Monceaux, Article"L'Eglise Donatiste avant S. Augustine," in

the Revue deFHistoire des Religions. July 1909. Histoire

Litteraire d? ^Afrique Chretienne^ 4 Vols. 1915.

77


of Numidia a long-standing jealousy of the See of Car-

thage, which in reality held a sort of patriarchal positionwithout the title. The conduct of Mensurius was most

unfavourably represented among the Numidian bishops.In 311 Mensurius died, and his Archdeacon Coecilian

was consecrated by Felix Bishop of Aptunga, to take

his place, without consulting the bishops of Numidia.But the Numidian bishops refused to acknowledge him.

They assembled at Carthage and held a Council in which

they complained (i) that the consecration of Caecilian

was irregular because according to custom the properconsecrator of the Bishop of Carthage was the Primateof Numidia

; (2) that in any case Caecilian was an im-

possible candidate, because he was a Traditor;that is,

he had surrendered the Sacred Scripture to the Paganmagistrates in the days of the persecution. There is

irresistible evidence that the conduct of some of Caecilian's

accusers, the Numidian bishops, during that same periodwould not bear investigation. None the less they refused

to acknowledge him, and ordered him to appear before

their Council;which he refused to do. Accordingly

they proceeded to elect another bishop for Carthage.

They consecrated Majorinus, a reader of the CarthaginianChurch, whose candidature was supported by the wealth

and influence of a lady named Lucilla whom BishopCaecilian had mortally offended by objecting to her

devotional esteem for some questionable relics, which he

regarded as little better than superstition. Majorinuswas a mere figurehead, a nonentity. In a few monthshe died and was replaced by Donatus, a powerful, com-

manding personality who gave not only his influence

but also his name to the Sect.

Meanwhile the Emperor Constantine acknowlegedCaecilian and ordered his officials to support him againstthe Separatists.

Thereupon the Separatists appealed to the Emperorthrough the Proconsul at Carthage requesting Con-stantine to submit the dispute to a Synod of Gallican


bishops, on the ground that such a Synod would be

impartial, seeing that Gaul had been exempt from the

persecution. To this appeal Constantine consented.

He selected three Gallican bishops together with PopeMelchiades and other Italian bishops, making in all a

Council of seventeen which was held at Rome in 313.

By that Council of the Lateran Csecilian was acquitted.From that first decision the Separatists appealed to

Constantine again. They complained that in the

Council in Rome no inquiry had been made into the

qualifications of Caecilian's consecrator, Felix of Aptunga,whom they asserted to be also a Traditor. AccordinglyConstantine ordered inquiry to be made by the Pro-

consul ^Elian at Carthage. ^Elian acquitted Felix of

the accusation made against him. Constantine then hadthe whole subject brought before the Council of Ariesin 314. Here for the second time Caecilian was declared

to be innocent.

For the third time the Separatists appealed. Theynow requested the Emperor to take the matter into his

own hands. Accordingly Constantine decided at Milanin 316 that Caecilian was duly and regularly elected

and consecrated, and was the lawful Bishop of Carthage.Constantine then attempted coercive measures to sup-

press the Schism. The usual result of coercion followed.

The Separatists had now their persecuted and their

martyrs, and the spirit of their community was intensi-

fied even to a fanatical degree.Then arose in Africa that extraordinary band of

religious furies known as the Circumcellions, whoterrorised the villages

l and waylaid travellers with clubs

and afterwards with swords, beating and wounding all

Catholics who had the misfortune to come within their

reach. These Agonistici consisted chiefly of the sub-

merged element of the African population, the social

failures, impecunious colonists, runaway slaves, the

1Aug. Contra Ep, Parmen. i. 17, 18, and Letter 23, 6. 7.

Letter 133, i.ff.

8o THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

unemployed, the discontented, who gathered in formid-

able groups to the destruction of social order andcivilised existence (Letter 108, 18). They robbed the

inhabitants and threatened their lives. They ill-treated

the clergy and attacked the Churches : self-constituted

defenders of the Donatist Communion against the

ancient Church of the land. They freely shed the bloodof Church-people to the glory of God.The Roman Imperial authorities in Africa were quite

unequal to their task, and were dismayed by the con-

sequences of the persecution which they had instituted.

After some five years of utter distraction, hostility was

suspended. In 321 Constantine allowed a contemptuouspeace. The Donatists had in reality gained their way.Imperial vacillation promoted their increase. In the

year 326 they were so strong that they assembled a

Council of 270 Donatist bishops at Carthage ;so that

they clearly existed in opposition to the Catholic Churchin almost every place of much importance in NorthAfrica.

No Church outside Africa acknowledged them, whereasthe Church over which Caecilian presided was in com-munion with all the ancient Churches of the World. TheDonatists attempted to establish a Church in Rome,which, however, could but maintain a struggling and

precarious existence on a hill and in a cave, while it set

up a rival against the Roman Bishop. Elsewhere the

Donatists made overtures to the Arians and for that

purpose offered doctrinal reductions concerning the

Trinity.Under the successors of Constantine fresh attempts

were made by Imperial power to bring the two Churchesinto union, chiefly in the interests of social peace. But

history does not encourage political efforts at ecclesiastical

unity. A state official, whose name became notorious

in Africa, Macarius, was commissioned to bring the

Separatists into union with the Church by all possiblemeans. He attempted bribery. He resorted to force.


He failed in both. He interviewed the Chief of the

Community at Carthage, but Donatus scorned his

overtures. What has the Emperor, he asked, to do withthe Church ? Donatus wrote a circular to all his sub-

ordinates prohibiting all relations with the State official.

An Imperial Edict of Union was issued in 347. This

promoted quiet when the Donatists were weak;but

when they were strong it intensified strife. Macariusat times lost self-control and resorted to violence. Theresult was more martyrs for the Sect. The Catholics

were now nicknamed the Macarian Church. The periodwas long after called in Augustine's time the Macarian

period, the Macarian persecution.1 Donatus was exiled

and other leaders after him.Catholics began to think that unity was restored.

Their feelings are described in the pages of the con-

temporary historian Optatus. But the victory was onlysuperficial : peace was but partial. Underneath the

apparent quiet simmered the old resentment awaitingor rather preparing for retaliation. These were the daysin which the Donatists composed their records of the

Macarian persecution. The Passio Mercuti relates howa Donatist bishop died.

Then came the Donatist opportunity. The accession

of Julian reversed all Christian prospects. In 362 hedecreed that the Donatists might return, and orderedthe restitution of their Churches. The scenes that

followed baffle description.2 The Agonistici revived.

Retaliations everywhere occurred on the Catholic occu-

pants of the property of which the Donatists had beenfor years deprived. The Reserved Sacrament in Catholic

Churches was flung to the dogs, the altars scraped.Consecrated Virgins were insulted and injured, clergywere wounded and sometimes killed. The wildest andmost atrocious incidents are recorded.

The reign of terror ceased with Julian's death in 363,

1 Letter 87, 10. Letter 49, 3.2 Letter 105, 9.

F


after less than two years. Edicts of Valentinian, of

Gratian and of Theodosius, were all adverse to the

Doriatist cause. 1

Such were the antecedents of the African Churchdivisions when Augustine entered on his priestly work.

In Numidia the Separatists were exceedingly strong.In Hippo they outnumbered the Catholics. 2

Augustine's letters on the Donatist Controversy oc-

cupy a larger space than those on any other subject.

They extend over thirty years (from 388 to 417).The fundamental problem of the Donatist Con-

troversy is : What constitutes the Validity of a

Sacrament? Does its validity depend on the personal

religion of the minister ? Is the validity of a sacramentaffected by its being administered beyond the limits of

the one visible historic Church ?

These questions were forced upon the Church by the

facts of its history.A very admirable discussion of the principles under-

lying this controversy will be found in Essays on the

Early History of the Church and the Ministry, edited bythe late Professor Swete, pp. 143-196.

There is much to be gathered from these letters onDonatism about Augustine's theory of the relation of

the Roman See to the other local churches;

of the

position of Apostolic Sees in general ;of the place

which the Authority of Councils occupied in the Uni-versal Church

;of the authority of the Episcopate ;

of

the principles of Succession;of the validity of Sacra-

ments ;of the nature of the Church and of Schism.

It is necessary to remember that our knowledge of

Donatism is chiefly derived from its opponents ;that it

clearly possessed many sincere and admirable men;

that the rude fanatics who became the terror of NorthAfrica in Augustine's days were not necessarily the

1 Letter 105, 9.2 Letter 129, 6. Letter 209, 2.


truest examples of its spirit, although they were his-

torically the most conspicuous.1

Moreover Augustine's teaching on coercion in religionmust not be criticised apart from the deplorable cir-

cumstances which provoked him to alter his opinion.

Augustine's earliest existing letter 2 on the Donatist

Controversy is addressed to a bishop of the DonatistCommunion. It is directed in terms of courtesy

"to

Maximin, my most beloved lord and honoured brother,

Augustine, presbyter of the Catholic Church, sends

greeting in the Lord."But Augustine proceeds to qualify every epithet and

to neutralise its effect by explaining the sense in whichhe employs them. He explains that if he call Maximinhonoured he does not mean to honour him as Bishop,for he says quite frankly

"you are no Bishop to me."

He asks Maximin not to be offended by this, as heconsiders that sincerity requires such plain speaking.What he honours in Maximin is simply his dignity as a

man. After explaining away the whole of the addressin this fashion, Augustine reaches the subject of his

letter. Rumour says that Maximin has actually re-

baptised a Catholic deacon. Now, to rebaptise a

Catholic is in Augustine's opinion the most atrocious

wickedness ("immanissimum scelus").He therefore calls on Maximin to explain his conduct

in a letter 3 which he will read to the congregation in

church. He appeals to Maximin to remember the

transitoriness of earthly honours and the judgment-seatof Christ.

" The honour of this world passes away, ambitionalso passes. In the future judgment of Christ neither

elevated stalls nor canopied pulpits (absidae gradatae,nee cathedrae velatae), nor the processions and chantingsof throngs of consecrated virgins shall be admitted for

1 Cf. Monceaux, Histoire Litteraire de VAfrique Chreiiennc,

1905.2 Letter 23, A.U. 388.

3 Letter 23, 3.


the defence, when conscience shall begin to accuse andthe Lord of Conscience to give decision. The thingsthat are an honour here will be a burden there : whathere exalts will there depress."

l

Augustine calls on him to say, I know but one

Baptism, consecrated and sealed in the Name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This

form, wherever I find it, I needs must acknowledge. I

do not destroy what I recognise as my Lord's. I donot dishonour the banner of my King.

Augustine pleads earnestly with the Donatist Bishopagainst rending the seamless robe of Christ : breaking,that is, the unity of the Church. He laments the de-

plorable divisions of African Christianity of which one

consequence was that believers in Christ could share

their daily bread at home, but could not share togetherthe Table of Christ. There was no spiritual hospitalitybetween the Donatist and the Catholic Communion of

the fourth century. Augustine dwells on the strange-ness of the fact that man and wife who vowed mutual

fidelity were rending Christ's own Body by belongingto different Communions. It was a scandal, a triumphof Satan, a ruin of souls. Great would be his reward in

Heaven who could remedy this miserable calamity bywhich the whole of Africa was grievously afflicted.

He appeals to Bishop Maximin that both sides

should avoid exasperating allusions to the past.2 Let

Donatists say nothing again of the incidents which theycall the tempora Macariana (that is, the period whenthe State official Macarius treated the Donatists with

severity). Let the Catholics say nothing again aboutthe violence of the Circumcellions (that is, the rude

gang of fanatics who terrorised all Africa in the

Donatist interest). He invites Maximin to a further

conference with him on the subject of the Schism. If

1 Another of Augustine's untranslatable plays on words :

"Quas

hie honorant, ibi onerant."2 Letter 23, 6.


Maximin refuses, he will read the correspondencebetween them before his congregation, in order that the

Catholic people may be the better instructed in the facts

of the Controversy. He promises that he will not

appeal for protection to the civil power if the Donatists

do not invoke the support of their fanatics.

Augustine further explains that he writes in the

absence of his Bishop, who, if present, would doubtless

either have written in person or have approved Augus-tine's action. But the rebaptising of a Catholic deaconwas a scandal which admitted of no delay in expressinghis grief.

Soon after his episcopate began,1 and while Bishop

Valerius was still living, he wrote to Proculeian, the

Donatist bishop of his own city Hippo.In this letter he is most anxious to conciliate, and to

remove any bad impression caused by Catholics on the

Donatist mind. He is afraid that his companion Evo-dius has spoken with more zeal than consideration.

Proculeian has complained of this. Augustine asks

him to believe that Evodius's conduct was not caused

by contempt but by devoted attachment to the Church. 2

Augustine invites Proculeian to hold a discussion with

him on the subject of African divisions. 3

He pleads strongly with Proculeian on the duty of

promoting Reunion.4 What have we to do, he asks,with the quarrels of long ago ? He points out that

insensibility to wounds is a sign of mortification andnot of life. He appeals to the miserable effects of

separate Communions on the life of the home. Husbandand wife agree in their union with each other but dis-

agree concerning the altar of Christ. They can keeppace on every subject except religion. Parents andchildren share one house but cannot share one Houseof God.

1 Letter 33.2 Letter 33, 3.



The letter to Proculeian was followed by two others

to his congregation in Hippo diocese. 1

Augustine here lays down emphatically that he has

no desire that any one should be coerced into the

Catholic Communion. That was his original principle,however much under the influence of circumstanceshe diverged from it afterwards.

But Augustine feels forced to call attention to the

unworthy motives by which exchange of Communionwas sometimes prompted.

2 There was a young manamong the Catholics at Hippo who beat his own mother,

and, on being rebuked by the Bishop, became a convert

to the Donatists, who baptised him, and gave him a

conspicuous position in their Church.

Augustine desires to know what responsibility BishopProculeian acknowledges in this transaction. Andfurther he desires to know whether Proculeian will

meet him and discuss their differences. Such discus-

sion cannot be held in some other city, as Proculeian

appears to suggest. For Augustine has no business

beyond the diocese of Hippo, and the question is

between Proculeian and himself. If Proculeian thinks

himself no match for Augustine let him call in what-ever aid he pleases. But Augustine professes that

hesitation on the part of a matured, experienced personlike Proculeian to meet such a novice as himself is

unaccountable. Or if Proculeian prefers, Augustinewill send another Catholic Bishop instead of coming in

person.The scandalous conversion mentioned in his last

letter 3 was not the only example which came under

Augustine's notice in the diocese. There was a sub-

deacon of the Church at Spana named Primus, who was

deprived of office for immoral relations to certain nuns.

He instantly became converted to the Donatist Com-

1 Letters 34 and 35.2 Letter 34, 2.

3 Letter 35.


munion, and the two nuns followed him. This trio

were now members of a group of wandering missionaries.

Augustine inquires whether Proculeian is ignorant of

this scandal as well as of the other.

There is a further grievance still. Augustine himself

visiting the Church at Spana was shouted at by a

Presbyter of Proculeian for being a persecutor. Yet

Augustine had expressly refused to allow a father to

compel his daughter to leave the Donatists for the

Catholic Communion.One of the very best of Augustine's letters on African

Church Divisions is Letter 43.l

This letter was written in 398 to a group of prominentDonatists with whom Augustine had recently held a

discussion. He wants to approach them in a con-

ciliatory spirit. The present generation had inherited

this schism, not created it. What constitutes a heretic

is not so much the special error which he maintains as

the spirit in which he maintains it. Augustine putsthese ideas into the following sentence :

" But though the doctrine which men hold be false

and perverse, if they do not maintain it with passionate

obstinacy, especially when they have not devised it bythe rashness of their own presumption, but have acceptedit from parents who had been misguided and had fallen

into error, and if they are with anxiety seeking the

truth, and are prepared to be set right when they havefound it, such men are not to be counted heretics." 2

The letter is concerned with the proper inferences to

be drawn from the history of the Donatist Communionand of the Catholic Church in Africa. It presupposesa knowledge of the main facts. Both Catholic andDonatist alike were familiar with the general history of

the divisions.

Augustine here recalls 3 to the Donatist reader's mind

1 Letter 43, written in A.D. 398.2 Letter 43, i.

3 Letter 43, 3.


the principal points urged in his recent discussion with

them. The Donatists produced certain Acts or Eccle-

siastical Records in which it was stated that Caecilian

of Carthage was condemned by a Council of seventy

bishops. The Catholics replied by producing certain

other Ecclesiastical Documents according to which the

Donatist party included bishops who had committedthe very same offence with which they charged Caecilian

and yet were tolerated in office among them.

Augustine maintains that the ordination of Majorinusas a rival to Bishop Caecilian l was an " erection of altar

against altar," and a sinful rending of the unity of Christ.

He points out that the Donatists appealed to the

secular authorities in the person of the Emperor Con-

stantine, asking him to appoint bishops at a distance

from the scene of strife who might adjudicate in the

dispute. Constantine granted the request, and three

trials followed.

The first was before Melchiades, Bishop of Rome, andcertain assessors (313). In this trial Caecilian was

acquitted. From this the Donatists appealed. Asecond trial was held in the Council of Aries 314.Here again Caecilian was acquitted. Once more the

Donatists appealed to the Emperor. A third trial wasnow held by Constantine in person. This confirmedthe acquittal of the previous judgments.

Augustine's comment on all this is that Caecilian

of Carthage" could afford to disregard even a number

of enemies conspiring against him, because he saw him-self united by letters of communion both to the RomanChurch in which the supremacy of an apostolic chair has

always flourished 2(" in qua semper apostolicae cathedrae

viguit principatus "), ancl to all other lands from whichAfrica itself received the Gospel ;

and was prepared to

defend himself before these Churches if his adversaries

attempted to cause an alienation of them from him." 3


3 Ibid.


The points to notice in this important paragraph are :

(i) the meaning vtprincipatus, or supremacy, as appliedto the Roman Church. (2) Whether the renderingshould be an apostolic chair, or the apostolic chair :

that is, whether Augustine denotes a prerogative of all

apostolic Churches in general or of the Roman See in

particular. (3) The appeal which Augustine considers

Caecilian is prepared to make is not only to the RomanChurch, but to the other Churches also with which hewas united. 1

Augustine argues2 that Secundus, the Primate, who

presided over the Council at Carthage, ought not to have

permitted a judgment to be given against the absent

Bishop Caecilian. True, that Caecilian refused to appearbefore the Council. But this was not the case of thetrial of a priest or one of the inferior orders of clergy.It was a case of one of their own colleagues, a bishop ;

who had the right to reserve the decision to the judg-ment of other bishops, especially those of the ApostolicChurches. The Primate's duty in the case was to

Augustine's mind perfectly plain.If the Numidian bishops had resisted the Primate's

advice to postpone decision,3

they would have been

frustrated, because no act of theirs could be valid with-

out the Primate's approval. If they still persisted, andacted in defiance of the Primate, he would be wiser to

separate himself from their disorderly procedures thanfrom the Communion of the world-wide Church.

Augustine further contended 4 that Caecilian's oppo-nents included men who had committed the very act of

betraying sacred writings which they laid to Caecilian's

charge.In any case Caecilian and his adherents ought not to

1 For critical notices of this passage see Bright, The RomanSee in the Early Church, p. 62

; Father Puller, The PrimitiveSaints and the See of Rome, 1914, p. 152 ; Denny's Papalism.

2 Letter 43, 7,3 Letter 43, 9.

4 Letter 43, 10.


have been condemned in their absence. 1 For theywere not chargeable with deserting a tribunal before

which they had never stood;nor was the Church so

exclusively represented in these African bishops that

refusal to appear before them was equivalent to declin-

ing all ecclesiastical jurisdiction. For there remainedthousands of bishops in countries beyond the sea, be-

fore whom it was obvious that those who seemed to

distrust their peers in Africa and Numidia could betried.

There was a further problem to be discussed :

2

namely, the relation of the Church to the State. TheDonatists complained that Caecilian had been acquitted

by the secular authorities. It was not right that a

bishop should be acquitted by trial before a proconsul.

Augustine points out in reply that it was not Caecilian

who appealed to the Emperor Constantine. Augustineappears to recognise an authority in the Emperor to

secure the peace of the Church in case of internal dis-

putes. This matter belonged especially to his care.

He would have to give account concerning it to God.

(" Imperator ... ad cujus curam, de qua rationem Deorediturus esset, res ilia maxime pertinebat."

3)

In anycase the objection came most unbecomingly from the

Donatists, since it was they who made the appeal to the

Emperor, and then refused to abide by his decision.

But after all, as Augustine had already remindedhis Donatist opponents,

4 the Imperial sentence was

only one of the three trials of the case of Caecilian.

It was also tried before the Roman Bishop with certain

episcopal colleagues. Augustine asks whether the

Donatists object to this episcopal court ?

"Perhaps you will say that Melchiades, Bishop of the

Roman Church, along with the other bishops beyond

1 Letter 43, n. 2 Letter 43, 13.3 Contrast S. Ambrose. " Sermo contra Auxentium." Works, II,

1018, 36.4 Letter 43, 14.


the sea who acted as his colleagues, had no right to

usurp the place of judge in a matter which had been

already settled by seventy African bishops, over whomthe Bishop of Tigisis (Secundus) as Primate presided."

Augustine's reply to this possible objection against,the Roman Bishop with his colleagues deciding a case

already tried before a tribunal in Africa is remarkable.He says :

" But what will you say if he in fact did not usurpthis place ? For the Emperor, being appealed to, sent

bishops to sit with him as judges, with authority to

decide the whole matter in the way which to themseemed just."

Augustine apparently here represents the RomanBishop as nominated judge of this African dispute bythe Emperor with authority to give final decision. Butbefore any inference is drawn from this passage it is

essential to read what the writer says later in 20 of

this same letter.

Meanwhile Augustine is strong in praisel of the

moral value of the Roman Bishop's conduct of theCourt before which Caecilian was tried.

Augustine refuses to acquiesce merely in superiorityof numbers. Doubtless there were seventy bishopswho condemned Caecilian in Africa, while not a tenth

part of that number acquitted him with Melchiadesin Rome. But it is a question of quality not of mere

quantity. Augustine is clear that in this instance the

votes must be weighed not counted. And the weighti-ness of which he thinks is moral not ecclesiastical or

official, He does not mean that the Roman Council

had higher ecclesiastical authority than belonged to anAfrican provincial assembly. It possesses a moral

superiority.In Augustine's view the Council over which the

Roman Bishop Melchiades presided2 did not care to

1 Letter 43, 16.2 Ibid.


inquire either what was the number of those bishops,or whence they had been collected, when they sawthem to be blinded with such reckless presumption as

to pronounce rash sentence upon their colleagues in

their absence, and without having examined them.With these moral defects of the Council of the

Seventy Bishops, Augustine proceeds to contrast the

moral excellence of the Council of the few, and more

especially of the presiding bishop.. "And yet what a decision was finally pronouncedby the blessed Melchiades himself: how equitable, howcomplete, how prudent, and how fitting, to make peace !

For he did not presume to depose from his college

(de collegio suo) colleagues against whom nothing hadbeen proved," etc.

" O excellent man !

"(adds Augus-

tine after a little further explanation,)" O son of

Christian peace, father of the Christian people. Com-pare now this handful with that multitude of bishops,not counting, but weighing them : on the one side

you have moderation and circumspection ;on the other,

precipitancy and blindness." *

And here Augustine goes behind the Ecclesiastical

Assembly in Africa 2 to the wire-pullers and real in-

fluences at work. He declares that some of Caecilian's

opponents were maintained against him by the wrathof a lady named Lucilla, who took a violent dislike

to Caecilian because he had ventured to rebuke herfor certain religious practices which he considered

superstitious. Augustine also declares that it could

be proved from public records in the possession of one

Zenophilus that Lucilla's money had greatly promotedthe opposition to Caecilian,3 He says they were urgedon by a women's spite.

But, says Augustine, suppose that the tribunal before

which the case of Caecilian was tried was, as his

opponents declare, unjust.



"Well, let us suppose that those bishops who decided

the case at Rome were not good judges ;

x there still

remained a plenary Council of the Universal Church,in which these judges themselves might be put ontheir defence

;so that, if they were convicted of

mistake, their decisions might be reversed."

Augustine complains that the Donatists make nosuch appeal to a plenary Council of the Universal

Church, Instead of appealing to the plenary Council

they appealed against the Council at Rome to the

Emperor. That was the reason why Constantine

granted the Donatists a second trial of Caecilian at the

Council of Aries : not because this was due to them,but only as a concession to their stubbornness. "

For.this Christian Emperor did not presume so to granttheir unruly and groundless complaints as to makehimself the judge of the decision pronounced by the

bishops who had sat at Rome;but he appointed, as

I have said, other bishops, from whom, however, theypreferred again to appeal to the Emperor himself; and

you have heard the terms in which he- disapprovedof this." 2

From this point Augustine describes in strong and

indignant terms 3 the inconsistences and the calamities

in which the adherents of the Schism are involved.

This he does at considerable length and with mucheloquence. He brings his long letter towards its close

with one of those striking and remarkable sentences

which live to this day:" No one can cancel from

heaven the decree of God, no one can cancel fromearth the Church of God." 4

This long and careful letter on the history of the

Donatist Body was the sequel to a conference held

by Augustine with their leaders at a town in his

1 Letter 43, 19.2 Letter 43, 20.

3 Letter 43, 21.4 Nemo delet de ccelo constitutionem Dei, nemo delet de terra

Ecclesiam Dei. Letter 43, 27.


diocese. He was indefatigable in his exertions to

secure reunion. We find him, as he travelled abouthis diocese, seeking interviews wherever possible with

the Donatist Bishops. Thus at a town called Tubursihe visited the Donatist Bishop Fortunius, and wrotean account of the interview in a letter 1 to the same

persons whom he had addressed in Letter 43.

Augustine's account shows the singular futility of

Conferences on Reunion where the desire for mutual

understanding is not strongly developed. The Catholic

desired reunion with the Donatist, but not the Donatistwith the Catholic. Crowds assembled, but rather in

the hope of witnessing a scene between the two bishops ;

jn the spirit in which they might attend a theatre rather

than a serious discussion on matters of faith. Augustinedraws a lively picture of the confusion and disorder and

interruptions, and the refusal to allow reporters to take

notes, in a meeting of several hours' duration.

When the meeting had been reduced to comparativequiet,

2 Fortunius spoke approvingly of Augustine'smanner of life, but added that such work would be

excellent if it had been done within the Church. Buthe denied absolutely that Augustine was within the

Church.

Thereupon Augustine asked what the true Churchwas ? Was it a world-wide community, or was it merelylocal and Afiican? Fortunius replied that his Churchexisted in all parts of the world. Augustine then

inquired whether the Donatist Bishop could prove his

membership in the Universal Church by issuing letters

of Communion to places which Augustine would select.

This question Fortunius evaded in a cloud of words,3

and went off into the totally different proposition that

a test of the true Church was to be found in its

endurance of persecution. He quoted the Beatitude onthose who suffered persecution for righteousness' sake.

1 Letter 44, A. D. 389.2 Letter 44, 3.

3 Letter 44, 4.


Augustine thanked him for the appropriateness of

the quotation, but pointed out that the Beatitude did

not apply to all the persecuted as such indiscriminately,but only to those whose cause was righteous. The

previous question, therefore, was whether the Donatists

were acting rightfully. No one denied that they hadsuffered persecution.

Augustine, however, insisted on asking whether the

Donatists had not, as indeed they had, separated fromthe Church Catholic long before the Macarian perse-cution. Consequently the real question was, whether

they had not done serious wrong in severing themselvesfrom the Universal Church. So Augustine broughtthe discussion back to the question whether the persecu-tion which the Donatists suffered was for righteousness'sake. 1

"I asked them," wrote Augustine,2 "how they could

justify their separation of themselves from all other

Christians who had done them no wrong, who through-out the world preserved the order of succession, andwere established in the most ancient churches, but hadno knowledge whatever as to who were traditors in

Africa;and who assuredly could not hold communion

with others than those whom they heard of as occupyingthe episcopal sees/'

He found that the Donatists were supporting their

cause by appealing to a Council of Arians.3 But the

Donatists refused to lend him the document or even to

allow him to mark the MS. to insure its identity on a

subsequent occasion.

Returning to the subject of persecution for righteous-ness' sake, Augustine

4 asked Bishop Fortunius whetherhe considered Ambrose, Bishop of the Church of Milan,

1 The facts about Macarius, sent in A. D. 347, will be found in

Optatits, Book III. See also Augustine's Works, ed. Gaume,Tom. IX. pp. 1115-1117.


4 Letter 44, 7.


to be a righteous man and a Christian ? This apparentlysimple question put the Donatist Bishop in a dilemma.If he were to admit that Ambrose was a righteous manand a Christian, Augustine intended at once to retort," Then why do you think it necessary for Ambrose to be

baptised ?"

Fortunius, in order to avoid that perplexity,was forced to say that Ambrose was not a Christian

nor a righteous man. To which Augustine replied byrelating the story of the persecutions which Ambrosehad endured from the Arian authorities. Clearlytherefore, on Fortunius's own principles, the sufferingof persecution was not a test of righteousness.

After further debate on this point,1Augustine urged

that mutual recriminations ought to be laid aside.

Christ's treatment of Judas Iscariot emphasised the

duty of tolerating evil. Christ admitted Judas to the

first Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Augustinesays that almost everybody present felt the force of this

argument.Fortunius endeavoured to destroy the force of it by

urging that communion with an evil person did no injuryto the Apostles, because they had not yet received the

Baptism of Christ, but only that of S. John Baptist.

Augustine's reply to this is curious, (i) He asserted

that when Christ sent His disciples to baptise, the

Baptism which they administered was that of Christ andnot that of S. John. (2) That accordingly the disciplesmust have been already themselves baptised with the

Baptism of Christ. For how could they give what theyhad not received? This was the favourite Donatist

maxim. (3) That the Apostles must have received the

Baptism of Christ before the Institution of the Eucharist." For how could they receive the Eucharist if not

previously baptised ?"

Fortunius here observed 2 that his party were appre-hensive of further persecutions from Catholics, and asked

1 Letter 44, 10. 2 Letter 44, n.


what attitude Augustine was prepared to adopt in the

event of any such occurrence.

Augustine dissociated himself altogether from approvalof persecution. We know how on this important matter

he was afterwards overruled. But he said on the presentoccasion that if persecution arose it would be the workof evil men. He spoke of forbearing one another in

love. He referred to the conduct of Bishop Genethliusof Carthage,

1predecessor of Aurelius, who suppressed

an edict against the Donatists. This reference was

highly commended. Nevertheless, retorted Augustine,the Donatists would have rebaptised Bishop Genethlius

if he had fallen into their power.The Conference was now breaking up, and ready to

disperse. Fortunius remarked with great frankness that

their existing rule required the rebaptism of everyconvert from the Catholic Church. But he evidently

regretted that this rule had ever been made. Hedeplored many of the actions perpetrated by his ownCommunion. He was evidently well-disposed towardthe Catholic Church. He went the following day of his

own accord to have further talk with Augustine, and

parted on friendly terms.

Augustine thought that good might be done byfurther consultation in the absence of the disorderly

throng of Donatist adherents, and suggests that a private

meeting might be held elsewhere.

The Donatist Communion experienced the tendencyto sub-division, which is the common tendency of

separated churches.2 A remarkable and instructive

example of this was the case of the Maximianists, which

Augustine puts forward in Letter 51. Since the facts

were thoroughly well known to the Donatists whomhe was controverting, Augustine deals with the case

here in a rather allusive manner, taking much for

granted as common knowledge. He tells the story

1 Letter 44, 12. 2 Letter 51, A.D. 400.

G

9& THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

more completely elsewhere in his treatises against the

Donatists.1Briefly the facts were these. Maximian

was a Donatist deacon who rebelled against his Bishop,

separated from the parent Community, obtained episco-

pal consecration, and established a new Donatist Church,over which he presided as chief. The original Donatist

Communion not only pronounced him and his adherents

outside the Church, but also went to law against themand endeavoured to get them turned out of the churches

which they occupied. But meanwhile the Maximianiststhrived. Their adherents multiplied. They set up rival

Churches in hundreds of towns and villages. Thus twoDonatist Bishops in addition to the Catholic Bishopexisted in most places. The separation grew so serious

that the original Donatist Church took alarm. It wasnow determined to secure reunion at every cost. TheMaximianists, who up to then were discredited and

regarded as unbaptised, were now received without

rebaptism into the original Donatist Communion andtheir adherents with them.Thus on motives of expediency the very principles

which the original Donatist Church insisted on as vital

in regard to the Catholic Communion were simply over-

looked and set aside for the sake of recovering the

Maximianists.This is the point which Augustine forces on the atten-

tion of the Donatists in the present letter. He drawsout the inconsistency of it, and the injustice of the

Donatists towards the Catholic Church. They acknow-

ledged the Baptism of the Maximianists and rejectedthat of the Universal Church.Here is his concluding appeal :

" Look to the charge made by your Council againstthe Maximianists as guilty of impious schism

;look to

the persecutions by the civil courts to which you appealed

1 See the Treatise against Cresconius, Book IV.; Works, IX.

742, and the Treatise de Gestis cum Emerito, Works, IX. 964.


against them ;look to the fact that you restored some of

them without reordination, and accepted their baptismas valid

;and answer, if you can, whether it is in your

power to hide, even from the ignorant, the question whyyou have separated yourselves from the whole world in

a schism more heinous than that which you boast of

having condemned in the Maximianists?"Another letter was written to Generosus, a layman of

Cirta, or Constantine, the capital of Numidia. 1 TheEpiscopal Succession in the Donatist Communion in

Cirta had been urged upon Generosus. And Augustineaccordingly here deals with the principle of the Apostolicsuccession in the Catholic Church. Herein lies the

importance of the letter. It has been pointed out

(Turner,"Apostolic Succession," essay in Early History

of the Church and Ministry, pp. 192, 193) that this is notone of Augustine's usual arguments in the Donatist

Controversy. But he was willing enough to take it

up when challenged. Succession, as he understood it,

meant the series of Bishops in a particular See. It is asuccession " from holder to holder, not from consecrator

to consecrated"

(ib. p. 193).Another letter was written by Augustine together

with Alypius and Fortunatus to the same Generosus.Generosus had received a letter 2 from a Donatist priestwho professed that he had been ordered by an angel to

convert Generosus to the Donatist Communion.

Augustine reminds Generosus, who was not at all

favourably impressed by this Donatist overture, of the

Pauline teaching that if an angel from heaven were to

preach any other gospel than that which he had received,the proper reply would be an anathema.

Augustine proceeds further to give a list of the

Episcopal succession in Rome from S. Peter to

Anastasius.3 The list including Peter consists of thirty-nine names. Augustine points out that no Donatist can

1 Letter 53.2 Letter 53, A.D. 400.

3 Letter 53, 2.

ioo THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

be found in this Succession. There was indeed a small

Donatist Community in Rome with a Bishop sent to

them from Africa. The sect was known apparentlyderisively from its insignificance and obscurity as the

Montenses^ or by a term which is probably corrupt, andthe meaning quite uncertain Cuteupitce.

But, says Augustine,2 even if a faithless individual had

been intruded into the order of the Bishops betweenS. Peter and Anastasius who now occupies the See, that

individual failure would not affect the status of the

Church (nihil praejudicaret Ecclesiae et innocentibus

Christianis). Christ Himself has provided against such

contingencies (S. Matt, xxiii. 3).

And the Donatist is at the disadvantage that he reads

in Scripture of Apostolic Churches with which he is not

in communion.

Augustine then turns to the evidence of public docu-

ments 3 to show that the Donatist succession had beeninvalidated by the very infidelity and persecution which

they charged against the Catholic Succession of Bishops.Another letter on the African Schism warns the

Donatists by the fate of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. 4

Augustine appeals to the moral sense of his corre-

spondent Emeritus, that no high-minded man could

defend the conduct of the notorious Donatist, BishopOptatus, whose scandalous career was a disgrace to anyCommunity.

5 He asks with what justice could the

Churches, which were apostolic foundations, be con-

demned by the Donatists for their ignorance of anAfrican dispute. He claims that if Catholics 6

appealedto the State it was only to protect themselves from

violence, as S. Paul himself had done. "The questionbetween us, however, is, whether your Church or ours is

the Church of God ?" 7

By the beginning of the fifth century the fanaticism of


4 Letter 87, A.D. 405.5

Tjtt"r 87, 4 and 5.

Letter 87, 8. ^^^ W3ffl*Vg7, 10.


the Donatists' Communion had become intolerable. In

the year 406 the Catholic clergy of the diocese of HippoRegius sent the Donatists a letter 1 which gives details

of the cruel sufferings inflicted on the Church by the

Separated Body. Important extracts are given from

public documents of the time of Constantine to showwhat the actual facts at the beginning of the Division

really were. But the account of the sufferings of

Catholics is dreadful. Bishops were waylaid duringtheir pastoral visitation and savagely beaten.2 Whencomplaints were made to the Donatist authorities theywere evaded or rejected. Catholics were compelled in

self-defence to appeal to the State for protection.The diocese of Calama over which Possidius, Augus-

tine's friend and biographer, presided was the scene of a

Pagan riot in 408 (see Letters 90, 91). Shortly after

that outbreak subsided a riot of Donatist fanatics

followed. A desperate attempt was made by a Donatist

priest named Crispin to murder Bishop Possidius, whovery narrowly escaped with his life.

Augustine has elsewhere told the story of the suffer-

ings of Bishop Possidius.3 The Donatists surroundedthe house in which he was taking refuge, stormed it, and

attempted to set it on fire. The inhabitants of the towndared not resist the Donatists, but warned Crispin, the

leader of the attack, what the consequences might be at

the hands of the State. This warning had some effect,

and the flames were partially extinguished. But Crispinand his crew burst into the house, killed the cattle on

the ground floor, and dragged down the Bishop from the

upper storey and beat him, until Crispin himself grewfrightened and called his associates off.

The case was brought before the secular authorities,

and Crispin was condemned to pay a fine of ten poundsin gold, according to the Law of Theodosius. The

1 Letter 88, to Januarius.2 Letter 88, 6.

3Augustine, Contra Crescon. Donat. iii. 50.


Catholics then acted with great forbearance. BishopPossidius himself interceded on Crispin's behalf with the

Emperor and the fine was remitted.

A Council of Bishops was held which sent a deputa-tion to Rome requesting that this fine of ten pounds in

gold should not be inflicted on all Donatist leaders

indiscriminately, as the Imperial decree had ordered, but

only on those who inflicted violence on the Catholic

Church. However this considerate and forgiving spiritdid little good. Another bishop, the Catholic Bishop of

Bagae, had been brutally injured by the Donatists, andhis case was known at Rome. The Emperor therefore

insisted on severer measures with a view to repress these

ferocious outbursts of fanaticism.

Then the Circumcellions resorted to vitriol throwing.1

They flung a mixture of lime and acid into the eyesof their religious opponents with blinding effect. Whenaction was taken against them by the State the

Donatists considered themselves victims of persecution.In a sentence Augustine sums up the position: "Theylive as robbers, they die as Circumcelliones, they are

honoured as martyrs."Further arguments and criticisms on the Donatist

position are given in a letter 2 to an owner of propertynear Hippo whose servants were members of the sect.

Once more Augustine insists that rejection of the

authority of the State comes with bad grace from those

who appealed to the Emperor Constantine, esteemingthe Imperial authority so much "above that of all the

Bishops beyond the sea, that to him rather than to

them they referred this ecclesiastical dispute."3

But, argues Augustine,4 even if you grant that

the decision of these judges was unjust, what then ?

They are responsible to God for their verdict. Butwhat has the Church done, the Universal Church, that




it should deserve to be rebaptised, merely because it

accepts the decision of the civil courts, of judges whomit believed to be in a position to know the facts?" No man deserves to be blamed for the crime of

another;what then has the whole world to do with

the sin which some one in Africa may have committed ?

No man deserves to be blamed for a crime about whichhe knows nothing ;

and how could the whole world

possibly know the crime in this case, whether the

judges or the party condemned were guilty ? You whohave understanding, judge what I say. Here is the

justice of heretics : the party of Donatus condemnsthe whole world unheard, because the whole worlddoes not condemn a crime unknown."Then as to the Donatist theory,

1 that the validity of

Baptism depends on the righteousness of the minister,

Augustine reduces it to an absurdity. For theyadmitted that Baptism conferred in their own Com-munion by an unworthy minister whose unworthinessis secret is valid. Accordingly the Catholics asked :

Who in that case is the real Baptiser? The Donatists

could only answer it is God. Thereupon Augustinepresented the Donatist with the following conclusion :

If when Baptism is administered by a righteous minister,it is the minister who sanctifies the candidate

;but

when Baptism is administered by a secretly unworthyminister, it is God who sanctifies

;the candidate ought

to wish to be baptised rather by a minister who is secretlybad than by one who is manifestly good. For obviouslyGod sanctifies much more effectually than any minister,

however righteous, can do.

The absurdity of this logical inference shows how

wrong the Donatist theory of the influence of the

minister on the Sacrament is. We are not to put our

trust in man, but in Christ. The validity of Baptismdoes not depend on the moral worth of the minister.

1 Letter 89, 5.

io4 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

It is valid because Christ Himself is the real

Baptiser.

Augustine warns Festus, his correspondent, that the

men on his property near Hippo are still Donatists,1

and that Festus's letter to them has taken no effect.

He suggests that Festus should send some trustyservant to the Bishop who will explain the steps that

should be taken.

The letter to Vincent contains Augustine's famousdefence of coercion.2

The defence is based on the ground of expediency.Coercion has been found productive of satisfactoryresults. It has made men amenable to reason, andreduced them to a teachable frame of mind.

Augustine illustrates from cases in which coercion is

incontestably right.3 It is right to restrain a delirious

patient from injuring himself. Severity is confessedlysometimes right.

4 Did not God chasten Israel? DoesHe not correct those whom He loves ? Is it not

written"compel them to come in

"?5

giving that fatal

interpretation which was destined to have such far-

reaching and disastrous consequences. Was not S.

Paul coerced by Christ to embrace the truth ? Didnot Sarah rightly afflict her insolent servant? If

Jezebel slew prophets so did Elijah.6 Nor was this

confined to the Old Testament. 7 God spared not His

only Son. The difference between rightful and wrong-ful compulsion depends upon the motive. When the

Father delivered up His Son, and Judas delivered upJesus Christ, the action was the same but the motivedifferent. Everything depends on the motive of

coercion. The magistrates imprisoned S. Paul, but

S. Paul delivered over a person to Satan which is

infinitely worse. The Jews scourged Christ ;Christ

also scourged the Jews.8

1 Letter 89, 8. 2 LetterJ-.CLIC1 oy, 3 - J_iCllCI yj, /Y.J-'. 4<JO.

Letter 93, 2. 4 Letter 93, 4.5 Letter 93, 5.

Letter 93, 6. 7 Letter 93, 7.s Letter 93, 8.


Vincent objected that no example of appeal to the

State by the Church 1 to exercise coercion is found in

the New Testament. Augustine admits that this is

true. But times have changed. He finds an illustra-

tion of two periods of the Church's existence in the

story of Nebuchadnezzar. The age of the Apostlesresembled Nebuchadnezzar's persecution of the faithful.

The age after Constantine resembled Nebuchadnezzar'sdecree enforcing penalties against those who spoke a

word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and

Abed-nego.Coercion as a matter of practical experience had

proved extremely beneficial.2 It had brought manymisguided individuals to accept the truth.

Augustine confesses that he had originally held the

opposite view.3 He had maintained that no one should

be forced into Christian unity. He had believed that

Christianity must be advanced by argument and per-

suasion, but not by compulsion. He had been keenlyalive to the dangers of hypocritical conversions.

But he had now altered his opinion. And this

change of mind was not due to the arguments of other

bishops, but simply to the evidence of the results

which compulsion had produced. He had seen the

change wrought in his own city, under his own eyes,

by the Imperial edicts. Hippo had been almost entirelyDonatist. It was now a Catholic city. He had ascer-

tained from the admissions of those converts that family

tradition, ignorance, prejudice, misrepresentation, had

kept multitudes alienated from the Church. Crowdsof people had imagined that it was a matter of pureindifference to which Christian Communion a person

might belong. Many remained in schism simply be-

cause they had been born into it, and not from anypersonal conviction.

1 Letter 93, 9.2 Letter 93, 16.

3 Letter 93, 17.

io6* THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

Augustine dwells here as often on the note of

Catholicity as a test of the true Church." You think that you make a very acute remark

when you affirm the name Catholic to mean Universal,not in respect to the Communion as embracing the

whole world, but in respect to the observance of all

Divine precepts and of all the Sacraments;

as if we

(even accepting the position that the Church is called

Catholic because it honestly holds the whole truth, of

which fragments here and there are found in some

heresies) rested upon the testimony of this word's

signification, and not upon the promises of God, andso many indisputable testimonies of the truth itself,

our demonstration of the existence of the Church of

God in all nations. In fact, however, this is the wholewhich you attempt to make us believe, that the

Donatists alone remain worthy of the name Catholics,on the ground of their observing all the Divine preceptsand all the Sacraments

;and that you are the only

persons in whom the Son of Man when He comethshall find faith. You must excuse me for saying weclo not believe a word of this." l

Augustine further insisted here, as often in other

places, above all in his expositions on the Psalms, that

Scripture contains witness to Christ and witness to

the Church, and that to throw discredit on its witness

in the one case virtually undermines its credit in the

other. How can we be sure that we have indisputable

testimony to Christ in the Divine word, if we do not

accept as indisputable the testimony of the same wordto the Church ?

2

The Donatist was involved in this inconsistency, for

he accepted the witness of Scripture to Christ's Passion

and Resurrection, but rejected its witness to the Catholic

or world-wide character of the Church.He also urges that the erection of an exclusive,



separated body,1 on the plea of higher sanctity, must

always make the separated body liable to be similarlytreated by a still smaller and more exclusive minority,who may separate in turn from them as they did fromthe larger Church and may claim exactly as they did

to be the only true Church existing on the earth." You are by no means sure that there may not be

some righteous persons, few in number, and therefore

unknown, dwelling in some place far remote from the

south of Africa, who, long before the party of Donatushad withdrawn their righteousness from fellowship with

the unrighteousness of all other men, had, in their

remote southern region, separated themselves in the

same way for some most satisfactory reason, and are

now, by a claim superior to yours, the Church of God,as the spiritual Zion which preceded all your sects in a

justifiable secession," etc.

Vincent further supported his separation by quotationfrom S. Hilary and from S. Cyprian.

2Cyprian was a

peculiar cause of embarrassment to the Catholics in this

controversy, because he had advocated rebaptism of

separatists, which was precisely what the Donatist main-tained against the Church. This put the African

Church in difficulties. For there was no greater

authority among African churchmen than Cyprian.And in this question of rebaptism they were obligedto disown him.

Augustine argues first that episcopal writings are

not to be placed on a level of authority with the

Scriptures.3

Secondly, that whatever Cyprian mayhave written he never separated from the unity of the

Church. Thirdly, that Cyprian recognised that his

own theory had not been acted upon in the previous

generation. Tourthly, Augustine propounded the

exceedingly hazardous proposition that Cyprian may

Letter 93, 25.2 Letter 93, 35

Letter 93, 36.

io8 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

have altered his opinions ;

1adding that critics existed

who maintained that Cyprian never held the viewascribed to him, but that it was a pure invention of his

enemies. Augustine, however, is much too genuine to

agree with such critics as these. He has no doubtthat Cyprian held this view.2 The style of his writingsis unmistakable. But after all this does not help the

Donatists. 3 For Cyprian's principle was that unitymust remain unbroken. Each Bishop was responsiblefor his action with that unity to Christ. But the

Church must continue undivided.

Augustine proceeds to distinguish what he could

accept4 as valid in the Donatists, and what he must

regard as their defect. He accepted their Sacramentsas valid, because those Sacraments'were the Sacramentsof Christ and not of Donatus or any other chief of a

separation." For from the Catholic Church are all the Sacraments

of the Lord, which you hold and administer in the same

way as they were held and administered even before

you went forth from her. The fact, however, that youare no longer in that Church from which proceeded the

Sacraments which you have, does not make it the less

true that you still have them." . . . ''You are at onewith us in Baptism, in Creed, and in the other Sacra-

ments of the Lord. But in the spirit of unity and the

bond of peace, in a word, in the Catholic Church itself,

you are not with us." 5

It should be noted that the letter to Vincent is dis-

tinguished by use of such phrases as " Catholic Churches,"" Catholic Unity," "Communion of the Catholic Church"

;

"within the Communion of the Sacraments of Christ."

The riots at Calama resulted in fresh laws against

Pagans and Donatists. The African Proconsul, Donatus,was commissioned to carry these new enactments into

1 Letter 93, 38.2 Letter 93, 39.

3 Letter 93, 41.4 Letter 93, 46.

5 Ibid.


effect. Augustine, fearing that this would mean severe

retaliation on the offenders, exerted himself to restrain

the severities of the State. He wrote in 408 (Letter

100) to the Proconsul, entreating him with a mostsolemn appeal to the Name of our Lord, to exercise

Christian leniency even toward the most desperate of

these fanatics;

to remember the Bishop's petition ;to

forget the magistrate's power of the sword;

to use

milder methods of coercion, and to spare their lives.

But the attempts to suppress Donatism by legislation

produced its natural result : it intensified their hatred of

the Church. Augustine wrote 1 a circular letter to Dona-tists in general, in which he claims to be promotingCatholic peace, and to be acting in the spirit of the

Beatitude : Blessed are the peacemakers. But he acknow-

ledges that his overtures were frustrated by the desperatethreat of his opponents :

" Go away from our people if

you do not desire us to kill you." If imperial laws com-

pel the Donatists to unite with the Church,2they have

brought it upon themselves by the violence of their ownfanatics. Augustine gives examples of the brutal mannerin which Donatists revenged themselves on seceders to

the Church.

Imperial decrees against the Donatists had beenenacted by all the Emperors since Constantine, with

the sole exception of Julian, the desertor Christi whohoped to destroy Christianity by encouraging divisions.

If the sons of Theodosius now made similar enactments

they are only following the Imperial tradition.3

After all, the appeal to the State was originally made

by the Donatists themselves.4 But Constantine did not

venture to pass judgment in the case of a bishop. Heleft that to be investigated and determined by bishops.

Moreover the imperial decree ordering unity is, after

all, the order of Christ.5It is exactly what the Apostle

1 Letter 105, A.D. 409.2 Letter 105, 3.

3 Letter 105, 9.4 Ibid. 5 Letter 105, n.

no THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

commands, that there be no divisions among us. The

Emperors insisted on this because they are Catholic

Christians.

God does not desire that they should perish in a sacri-

legious discord separated from their Catholic mother.1

As to the question concerning unworthy clergy.2 The

charge against Caecilian has never been proved. Butthe Christian principle is to correct evil when we can, andto endure it when we cannot correct it. We can unite

in Sacraments with unworthy persons without consent-

ing to their sins. Remember the Parable of the Wheatand the Tares. Augustine appears to argue as if un-

spirituality did not affect the orthodoxy of the teaching.Even if the teacher is unspiritual his teaching may be

true. For what he teaches is not his own but God's,Who has placed the teaching of truth in the seat of

unity.3

Augustine was simply indefatigable when the State

determined to compel the Donatist leaders to a Con-ference with the Catholics at Carthage in 41 1 . TheTribune Marcellinus had been entrusted by the Emperorwith the whole affair, and was authorised to act as a sort

of Moderator between the two parties. Marcellinus

published a decree regulating the method of procedure.4

He wished that none but certain selected episcopal

representatives should be present at the Conference.

Every one else was to be kept at a distance to secure

quiet and avoid disturbance from the unruly. To this

the Catholics consented. But the Donatists refused.

They demanded that the entire number of their Bishopsshould be present. And the Catholics yielded to this.

The African Bishops proposed that,5 in the event of

Reunion, the Catholic Bishop and the Donatist Bishopshould share the See between them. Or else if this was

uncongenial to the diocese, both of them should resign.

1 Letter 105, 13.2 Letter 105, 16.

3 Ibid.4 Letter 128, A.D. 411.

5 Letter 105, 3.

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS in

The Catholic Bishops declared that no one ought to

shrink from this resignation of their thrones if the

interests of the unity of the Church demanded it.

This acknowledgment of the Donatist Orders showshow remarkable a change had passed over African

ecclesiastical theories since the age of Cyprian.1

The Catholic Bishops, in another letter to Marcellinus,2

protested their anxiety that mutual recriminations shouldbe laid aside. But they justified Imperial action againstthe Donatists by an unfortunate appeal to the Jews,

threatening foreigners who spoke against the God of

Israel. They were on safer ground when they urgedthat according to the Parable the Church of Christ wasto be a mingled community of wheat and tares, andthat the separation would take place at the end and not

now. They pointed out that the Donatists had been

compelled, most inconsistently with their protest againstthe Church, to overlook unspirituality among themselvesin order to avoid subdivision.

The Bishops were apprehensive that the Donatist

desire to appear in full force boded ill for unity. It par-took rather of the nature of a demonstration of their

strength. They wanted to show that Catholics hadunderrated them and underestimated their numbers.Catholics might have said that the Donatists were not

numerous. This was true except in the Province of

Numidia. The Catholic Bishops express a hope that

there will be no disturbance at the Conference. But

they think it wise to be prepared for the worst.

The details of the Conference at Carthage in 411 are

to be found in Augustine's Summary of the Conference.3

But the principal incidents are related in a letter written

by Augustine and sent in the name of a Numidian

1 See further on this subject in Swete's Early History of the

Church and the Ministry, essay on " Ordination "by Frere. See

also Hefele's comments on the bearing of such procedures on the

Eighth Canon of Nicsa, History of the Councils.2 Letter 129, A.D. 411.

3 Letter 141, A.D. 412.

ii2 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

Council to the Donatists in June 412. Augustine tells

us that he wrote this letter, but did not include it in the

collection of his correspondence because it was issued

as an official document of a Council.1 It is, however,now placed among his letters by the Benedictine editors.

Augustine was himself a member of the Council whichissued his letter. The Donatists after the Conference

spread a report that the president, Marcellinus, had beenbribed by Catholics to decide in their favour. The pur-

pose of the present letter is to refute this baseless scandal

by describing the actual events. Augustine says that

this letter cost him several nights of labour (Letter

139. P- 3)-

The letter bluntly accuses the Donatist Bishops of

fraudulent misrepresentation of their real numbers, andof deliberate attempt to delay the proceedings and to

evade a decision. Under the circumstances this latter

is not improbable. For the Donatists were forced byImperial regulations to attend in spite of their reluctance.

It is strange that the African Bishops did not realise the

moral futility of such conferences. Modern historians

consider that the confusion can be accounted for without

accusations of duplicity.The letter says

2 that in the course of the investigationinto the history of both parties it was shown that the

Donatists had retained unspiritual persons within their

Communion;

which was the very pretext of their

separation from the Catholics. When this was urged

against them in the Conference the Donatists wereforced to excuse it on the principle that causes and

persons must be judged on their own merits : the very

principle which the Catholics maintained as an argumentagainst Separation. If that principle were applied to

the claim of Caecilian and the claim of the Church, the

entire controversy would be at an end.

The letter adds that the Donatists were reduced to

1 Retract, ii. 40.2 Letter 141, 6.


much confusion and embarrassment, and produced docu-ments in their own defence which in reality strengthenedthe Catholic cause. It was all providential in the

opinion of the Council.

In 412 we find Augustine writing to Apringius the

Proconsul, Marcellinus's brother,1

calling on him to re-

member the Divine Judgment Seat, where he will have to

give account for his present judgments on his fellow-men.He allows that criminals who have blinded people, or

mutilated them, deserve to be flogged, but he would nothave them tortured. This Augustine entreats by the

mercy of Christ. Doubtless the magistrate bears notthe sword in vain. But the principles of the State are

one thing : those of the Church another. Augustinewould argue on other lines if he were not correspondingwith a Christian. He is conscious that Christians are

under a condition of exasperation. He pleads that theyshould not be stained with the blood of their enemies.Much in the same spirit of forbearance and deprecation

of reprisals Augustine wrote in the same year 41 2 2 to

the very distinguished State official, Marcellinus, askingthat copies of Official Acts concerning the Donatistsshould be set up with all publicity and recited in the

Church at Hippo ;but at the same time making it a

matter of conscience that Catholics must exercise

leniency towards religious fanatics. He is sure that a

magistrate can mitigate the penalties of the law. It is a

case in which appeal should be made to the Emperor.He warns Marcellinus that if Donatists are sentenced to

death they will be honoured as martyrs. Augustinehas himself drawn up a summary account of the Con-ference held with the Donatist chiefs at Carthage in the

previous year. The whole letter breathes the spirit of

Christian charity.All this gives a very different view of Augustine's prin-

ciple and character from that frequently held. It would

1 Letter 134, A.D. 412.2 Letter 139, A.D. 412.

H

ii4 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

be difficult to be more unhistoric and more unjust than to

represent Augustine as a Torquemada born before his

time. That his unhappy misinterpretation of the Scrip-ture words formed a deadly precedent, and led to appal-

ling consequences, is indeed only too painfully true. But

Augustine is not the only great thinker who failed to

anticipate the consequences of his teaching : conse-

quences from which, it may be safely said, no man wouldhave recoiled more completely.The student of history will compare the unhappy use

made of this precedent for coercion by Bossuet againstthe Huguenots, and by Balmes in his instruction of the

Spanish Church in the nineteenth century. In neither

case had these theologians the excuse, such as it is, of

severe provocation.It is clear that Augustine's activity in this depart-

ment was resented by the legal authorities. The Bishoppersisted, and such magistrates as were Christians did

not see their way to refuse his petitions, but cordiallywished he would confine himself to his proper sphere.

Macedonius, for example, writes granting Augustine'srequest,

1 but adding, deferentially yet firmly :

" You saythat it is the function of your priesthood to intervene

in behalf of the accused, and that unless you obtain

your request you have no right to be offended. I verygreatly doubt whether this claim can be justified from

religion."2

Macedonius appeals to the principles of the Church.

According to the practice of the Church restoration is

allowed only once after Baptism in the case of serious

sin. To allow sins to go unpunished is to lower the

standard. He considers that exemption for penalty hasbeen pleaded for cases in which such exemption hasdone no good whatever.To this criticism Augustine sent an admirable answer: 3


3 Letter [53, A.D. 414.


" You ask me why I maintain that it is part of our

priestly office to intercede in behalf of the guilty, and

why I consider it derogatory to my office if the petitionis not allowed. You say that you are not sure that this

is a proper inference from religion. For if the Church

granted restoration to the penitent only once, how canit require that crime of every sort -should be forgiven?To advocate such laxity would be a sin against the

social order."

Augustine repliesl that this severity would frighten

any one who did not know how gentle and humaneMacedonius really was. Augustine certainly by nomeans condones a sin, nor has the slightest wish that

it should go unpunished. But while you abhor the sin

you must pity the sinner. And the more you abhorthe sin the more you must desire the sinner's conver-

sion. It is easy to hate bad men because they are bad :

it is less common, but it is religious, to love them because

they are men. Augustine held that no other place for

moral correction existed beyond the present world. Forafter this life a man would possess exactly what he had

acquired. Charity, therefore, prompts us to intercede

for the guilty for fear they should end this life by a

punishment which involved a further punishment whichwould never come to an end.

Clearly, then, such intercession is a work of religion.

Augustine appeals to the Divine benevolence towardthe evil, taught by our Lord in the Sermon on the

Mount (S. Matt. v. 44, 45). Doubtless Divine patience

might be abused, but it was exercised none the less

(Rom. ii. 3-6).

Augustine propounds the theological principles andmotives to the legal mind. God is the only judgewhose decisions need not be revised, for He alone is

incapable of being deceived. And yet He sends the

sun to shine on the evil as well as on the good,

1 Letter 153.

n6 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

and sends rain upon the just and also upon the

unjust.Macedonius must also remember that persons who

are liberated from the severity of the State are punishedby the Church

;are removed from the Altar, and com-

pelled to penitence.If there are relapses even after such penitential dis-

cipline, yet God still continues to the scandalous offender

the gifts of nature, and still offers him the grace of

salvation. And although the Church no longer giveshim a place even for the humblest penitence, yet Godhas not forgotten to be patient towards him. AndAugustine drew a very striking picture of a penitentsoul pleading for restoration :

" Either grant me again a place of repentance or suffer

me in despair to live as I please. Or if you call meback from such an evil course, tell me whether it will

profit me anything in the future life if in this life I resist

the seductions of pleasure ;if I chasten my body, and

withdraw myself even from lawful and permissible

things ;if by my penitence I afflict myself more griev-

ously than before; weep more profusely, live far better,

maintain the poor more generously, burn more ardentlywith charity which covers the multitude of sins." Cer-

tainly, says Augustine, no one would be so mad as to

tell him that all this would profit him nothing in the

future life. The Church, Augustine considered, could

not venture to allow restoration of the offender morethan once for fear of lowering the moral level of Chris-

tian life. But God goes further than the Church dareventure. The long-suffering of God leads men to

repentance.There is the case of the woman brought by the

Pharisees before our Lord. Christ called them backto mercy, by an appeal to their own consciences.

Augustine thinks that if the woman's husband hadbeen present he would have been moved to spare the

guilty one. For since Christ here warned off the


judicial accusers, the injured person could scarcely fail

to learn the lesson of mercy and be reluctant to makehis wife a public example.

Augustine recalls 1 a day when Macedonius himselfinterceded in the Church at Carthage in behalf of a cleric

with whom his bishop was justly indignant. If it is

right for Macedonius to mitigate the severity of ecclesi-

astical discipline, it must be right for a bishop to

mitigate the seventy of secular discipline, especiallyin a trial where the life of the accused is at stake.

And here Augustine appeals to Macedonius 2 on the

ground of the magistrate's goodness. He calls him

good in spite, he says, of the words of Christ," There

is none good save one, that is God." This leads the

Bishop to insinuate the lesson that all human goodnessis imperfect. We call him good in whom good exceedsthe evil : and him best who sins the least.

Quoting Seneca,3 whose letters to S. Paul, he says,

still exist," He who hates the bad must needs hate all

men," Augustine adds: "And yet the bad are to beloved in order that they may cease to be bad."

As to Macedonius's fear that ecclesiastical interven-

tion 4 in criminal cases would render judicial action

nugatory, Augustine denies it. Both imperial and

paternal power have undoubtedly the right of discipline ;

but the intercessions of a bishop are not contrary to

secular authority.So much depends upon the motive which induces

men to spare.5

Certainly a magistrate may grant a

bishop's intercession for an offender, and yet the leni-

ency make the offender nothing better. But then the

intention must be remembered. The purpose of the

intercession is none the less excellent, in spite of its

failure to improve the offender.

Thus the severity of the magistrate is good,6 and the


4 Letter 153, 16.5 Letter 153, 17.

fi Letter 153 19.

n8 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

leniency of the interceding person is good. The formeris to be feared and the latter not to be despised.

Certainly to plead that a thief need not restore whathe had taken 1 would be to become a party to the

fraud.

Then, of course, there are cases in which the personinterceding may be deceived

;

2 and the magistrate mayknow what the Bishop does not.

So Augustine, before the letter ended, had written

almost a small treatise for the magistrate's use, ex-

tending to six-and-twenty sections, full of reason and

insight into human nature, and shrewd reflections, andall of course expressed in terms of persuasive eloquence.

Macedonius was greatly captivated by this letter.

He sent a short but extremely grateful reply,3 acknow-

ledging himself convinced by the Bishop's explanations,which were so replete with penetration, knowledge,sanctity ;

while his intercessions for offenders so marked

by humility that the magistrate would feel inexcusable

unless he consented.

Augustine replied that although he was unable to

discover 4 in himself the wisdom which Macedoniusascribed to him, yet he was profoundly indebted to

the writer's kindliness, and rejoiced that his work com-mended itself to such a reader. Most of all he rejoicedthat Macedonius was an ardent follower of the truth.

No one can truly be a lover of man unless he is first

a lover of truth. Thereupon the Bishop seizes the

occasion to dwell on the theme that the meaning andthe blessedness of life is only to be found in God.The so-called Conference of 411, when the Donatists

were forced by the State to conform to the Catholic

Church, was one of the strangest parodies of Reunionever invented. The reluctant and despairing leaders

of the sect were driven by imperial officials into the

Letter 153, 20 and 31.2 Letter 153, 22.

Letter 154.4 Letter 155.


Catholic Church. One result was that suicidal frenzywas intensified. 1 One of the oddest letters Augustineever wrote was sent to a Donatist priest in the dioceseof Hippo. This unfortunate man was ordered to bearrested and brought to church. He threw himselfdown a well to escape conformity. He was broughtup again, seriously injured, and scarcely in a mood to

attend to Augustine's remonstrances and exhortations.

Seldom was logic more futile, or argument more mis-

placed, than in Augustine's reasonings with this unhappyvictim of imperial and ecclesiastical coercion. Augus-tine insists on the educational and corrective value of

coercive measures, illustrated in the Divine punishmentof the rebellious Israelites, and the violent Conversionof S. Paul

;insists that much good may result from a

father flogging his son; distinguishes between martyr-

dom false and true false when endured without charity,

which, says the Bishop, was the case with the Donatists :

" For if I give my body to be burned, and have not

charity, it profiteth me nothing ;

"repeats again the fatal

interpretation :

"Compel them to come in."

What impression Augustine's reasonings made on the

suicidal tendencies of the despairing sectarian has not

been recorded. But the hopelessness of curing the

effects of violence by the use of logic and history does

not seem to have dawned upon the great writer's mind.He seems to have had no misgivings. It never occurs

to him that the situation which he deplored was one for

which coercive measures were largely responsible.No summary of this Conference with the Donatist

Bishops can be complete without a reference to the

tragic fate of its President.

Two years after the date of the Conference the im-

perial representative in Africa, Count Heraclian, revolted

from his master Honorius. Count Marinus was sent

to Africa in the Emperor's interests, and Heraclian was

1 Letter 173.


captured and executed. Marinus was commissioned to

pass judgment on all the supporters of the late revolt.

It appears from Augustine's account that this act of

retaliation was carried out with haste, indiscriminately,and with gross injustice. Vengeance fell on the inno-

cent as well as on the guilty. Suspicion easily lightedon the wrong persons. Private jealousy and spite found

an opportunity to requite personal dislikes under pre-text of loyalty to the State. Solitary accusations un-

supported by further evidence were allowed to ruin men.These were the circumstances which the Donatists

are said to have utilised for taking revenge on the

President Marcellinus. He was accused with havingsupported the usurper Heraclian. So was his elder

brother the Proconsul Apringius. It will be rememberedthat Augustine had written to both brothers entreatingthem not to be over-severe with Donatist offenders

(Letters 133, 134). Count Marinus had them botharrested and imprisoned. Augustine was in Carthageat the time. A distinguished State official, Caecilian, a

Churchman and a friend, assured him in the strongestterms that they were safe. And the Bishop left the

city with that assurance. Then like a thunderclapcame the news that both the brothers had been suddenlyexecuted.

Augustine was almost stunned by the terrible news.

Suspicion fell on Caecilian that, in spite of his assurancesand professions, he had incited Count Marinus to anact of judicial murder for private reasons of his own.

Augustine kept silence for a considerable time, over-

whelmed. At last Caecilian wrote to ask the Bishopwhy he did not write ?

That question produced such a letter 1 as Augustinehad seldom written. It is a letter in which the intensityof grief and affection for the dead were mingled withthe strongest moral indignation against all aiders and

1 Letter 151, A.D. 413.


abettors of the cruel deed, together with wonderful self-

restraint and measured utterance;

a lofty refusal to

credit the popular suspicion that Caecilian could have

perpetrated such loathsome insincerity ;and a courtesy

and deference which must have made the words of con-

demnation stinging and scathing beyond description if

Caecilian were really guilty.

Quite a number of Augustine's correspondents were

persons of eminence in the State, who wrote to him for

advice or instruction. Count Boniface,1evidently per-

plexed by the diversities of African religion, wrote to

inquire what was the difference between a Donatist andan Arian ? This led Augustine to write another most

important account of the Donatist controversy. Heexplains that an Arian is a person who maintains that

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are different

substances, whereas the Donatist, like the Catholic,

acknowledges one substance of the Trinity ; although,

Augustine adds, the Donatists, in their desire to strengthentheir position, made overtures to the Arian Goths, andminimised the difference about the doctrine of the

Trinity. Augustine also tells Boniface how the Donatist

schism arose.

Augustine paints an extraordinary picture of sectarian

fanaticism and violence among the Donatists.2They

tramped the country in troops, and fell on travellers,

wounding and slaughtering them. Sometimes theyincited and provoked magistrates on circuit to be their

executioners. A story is told of a magistrate who pre-tended to comply with their request, ordered them to

be bound, and left them, thereby securing time to escapetheir threats and violence.

Augustine was naturally led to talk of horse and mulewhich have no understanding, and of the necessity of

imposing restraint on the violence of those who wereout of their mind.

1 Letter 185, A.D. 417.2 Letter 185, 12.


These considerations encouraged Augustine to believe

in the advantage of force. 1 Runaway slaves, and debtors

unwilling or unable to pay for goods supplied to them,found conversion to the Donatists an effective methodof escape from their liabilities, for neither owner nor

creditor were inclined to face the clubs of the Circum-

cellions, or to have their houses burnt above them. Thecountry was under mob regulations. The sectarians

did exactly what they pleased, played grim practical

jokes on their victims when the fancy served them. For

instance, they harnessed an educated and cultured manto a mill, in place of an ass, and forced him round andround to grind the corn. Authority looked the other

way, and ignored what it could not prevent. Terrorised

sufferers dared not complain. Hardly a Church 2 of the

Catholic Communion was safe from outrage. Hardlya road was secure to travellers. Not only laymen andclerics were sufferers, says Augustine, but even the

Catholic Bishops (we note his triple division) were placedin a deplorable dilemma. Either they were silent, and

thereby unfaithful to their duty of proclaiming the truth;

or else they spoke, and brought calamity, not only on

themselves, but upon all their people. It seems clear

from this that fanatics must have been very numerous.Under these circumstances, says Augustine, who could

question the necessity of appealing to the State in the

persons of the Christian Emperors?3 And here Augus-

tine explains to Count Boniface his own conception of

the existing relation between Church and State. The

objection had been raised that the Apostles did not

desire coercive legislation against their opponents.

Augustine points out that circumstances had changed.There was no Christian Emperor in the Apostolic Age.Those were the days in which the kings of the earth

stood up against the Lord and against His Anointed.

1 Letter 185, 15.2 Letter 185, 18.

3 Letter 185, 18 and 19.


But now that Emperors were Christian the words appliedto them :

" Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings ;be

learned, ye that are judges of the earth : serve the Lordin fear

": that is, repress irreligion by just severity.

1

Illustrations of this asserted kingly duty are given fromHezekiah to Nebuchadnezzar. And here Augustineformulates the mediaeval conception of the duty of the

State to the Church :

" What sober-minded person could

say to Kings,' Care not by whom the Church of your

Lord is in your Kingdom restrained or oppressed ;it is

no business of yours who in your Kingdom is religiousor sacrilegious

'

;since you cannot say to them,

'

It is nobusiness of yours who is chaste or who is unchaste in

your Kingdom'

? Why should adultery be punished and

sacrilege permitted ? Is it a lighter thing that a manshould not keep faith with God than that a womanshould be faithless to her husband ?

" 2 Thus Augustinecould not conceive a religious State ignoring offences

against religion.At the same time he saw quite clearly

3 that it wasan immeasurably better thing that men should be led

to the worship of God by instruction rather than com-

pelled by force. But he thought that although the wayof freedom was better, yet the way of coercion was not

altogether to be neglected.

Consequently disobedience is to be coerced :

:t

Compelthem to come in."

4

At the same time Augustine himself and others of

the African Bishops5 had been formerly opposed to

compulsory communion. They had held that force

should only be exerted defensively to protect Catholics

from Donatist violence. And this view was expressedin a Canon of the Council of Carthage in 414.

This decision of the Council of Carthage6 was sent

to the Emperors with a request that they would endorse

1 Letter 185, 19.2 Letter 185, 20.


6 Letter 185, 26 and 27.


it as a law of the State. But the appearance of a Bishopat Court disfigured by scars of Circumcellion violence

determined the Emperor to legislate on severer lines.

Honorius accordingly ordered the infliction of fines,1

and insisted on enforcing the return of the Donatists to

Catholic Unity.On the arrival of this Law in Africa many immedi-

ately flocked into the Church,2including many ignorant

persons unable to distinguish between the two Churches.

But, on the other hand, these defections filled the remain-

ing sectarians with the madness of despair. Some were

prepared to commit suicide rather than be converted,and to throw the responsibility of their conduct uponthe Catholics. Well, reflects Augustine, if the Houseof David can only be at peace by the death of Absalomwhat alternative 3 remains but to weep his death, andbe thankful for peace ?

After all, reflects the Bishop, there is another side to

the picture. If Boniface were to see the joy of these

converts to the Catholic Congregation, and their appre-ciation of Sacraments which they had been taught to

despise as false, he would feel that coercion ought to be

practised, whatever effect it might have on a certain

number of desperate men.4

" Put it," says Augustine,"in the form of a simple illus-

tration. Suppose two men in a house which you knowis certain to fall. You try to warn them, but neither

will come out. One says that if you try to force himhe will kill himself. Will you not risk his committingsuicide in your desire at least to save the other whohas no such suicidal proclivities ?

" 5This, in the writer's

opinion, was parallel to the Donatist difficulty.

Among phrases to be noted in this important Letter

185 are "sacramentum altaris" ( 24), and that the

1 Letter 185, 28. * Letter 185, 29.3 Letter 185, 32.

4 Ibid.5 Letter 185, 33.


Donatists "extra ecclesiam et contra ecclesiam eccle-

siae sacramenta tenuerunt"( 46).

To appreciate at its full value this remarkable series

of letters on the Donatist Controversy, it is well to

remember that in addition to those there still exists a

folio volume of Augustine's set treatises on the same

subject. These letters are his minor efforts on the

theme. But the facts and the principles, the historyand theology contained in them make it possible to gaina fairly complete view of the whole course of that tragical

separation which inflicted such injury on African Christi-

anity. If Augustine had written nothing else, these

alone would form a claim to unusual distinction.

CHAPTER V

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE 1

THE letters on Pelagianism extend across the last

sixteen years of the great writer's activity, from 414 to

430. During that period occasional letters appeared onthe Donatist Controversy. Hut the absorbing interest

of his mind was the great subject of Divine Grace.

I

The theological standpoint of Pelagius is very plainlyshown in his celebrated letter to Demetrias on the

occasion of her taking the veil in 413. In that letter he

explains that his 2practice when giving instructions in

religious life is always to lay great stress on the capa-

bility of human nature. He wants to banish the word"impossible," and to convince human indolence how

much it is able to do 3by its own exertions. Accord-

ingly he exalts the power of the human will.4 God

gave us freedom of choice, made us capable of good andevil. And what the capacities of human nature are for

moral excellence can be seen in the Pagan philosopherswho were pure and self-denying and benevolent and

1 Out of the enormous literature on this subject it may be suffi-

cient to mention: Mozley, Augustinian Doctrine ofPredestination ;

Hermann Reuter, Augustinische Studien, 1887 ; Mausbach, DieRthik des heiligen Augustinus, two vols., 1909 ; Duchesne, His-

toire Ancienne de PEglise.2 In S. Augustine's Works, Gaume's Edition, Tom. II. Appen-

dix, pp. 1380 ff.-I4I2.3 Letter to Demetrias, 2.

126


unworldly. Whence came all this goodness unless outof the goodness of human nature ? It all shows howmen without God were able by the power bestowed onthem in their creation to please Him. If human natureis in itself capable of this high excellence, how muchmore can a Christian accomplish, taught as he is byChrist and aided by the help of Divine Grace ? Here,

then, the distinctive Christian term occurs. Pelagius

recognises Grace. But Grace nowhere means for himwhat it meant for the Church. It nowhere means the

supernatural influence of the indwelling Christ within

the soul.1 What Felagius finds in human personalities

is a "naturalis sanctitas

"of which conscience is an

evidence.

He quotes numerous examples from the Old Testa-ment of human perfection. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,for instance, perfectly fulfilled the will of God.2

Jobwas an evangelist before the Gospel, and an apostolic

disciple of the Apostles before the Apostolic teachinghad been given. In his psychology the will is alwaysfree to determine which of two courses it will take. 3

Pelagius reiterates his interpretation of religious

history by observing that the Patriarchs who attained

excellence without the guidance of the Law are nodoubt proof of the natural goodness of mankind.Their Creator had endowed their nature, long before the

Law was given, with capacities sufficient for achieving

righteousness. He admits that in process of time the

moral level deteriorated. In his opinion the Law wasthen revealed in order to enable men by admonition to

recover their earlier excellence.

He acknowledges that we have a difficulty in doinggood. But that difficulty is to be traced to nothing but

habit and neglect from childhood onward. This habit

undoubtedly becomes a second nature;

it resists us

1 Letter to Demetrias, 4, p. 1383.2 Ibid. 6.

3 Ibid. 8. Quibus liberum est unum semper ex duobus agere.cum semper utrumque possimus.


now that we are trying to exert a better will. Wewonder why, in this ignorance contracted by indolence,

sanctity seems as if it were conferred upon us byanother rather than by ourselves. But the truth is, that

this is caused by our long experience in evil and the

absence of habitual continuance in good.Nevertheless, urges Pelagius, if primitive men before

the Law was given achieved such excellence, what

ought not to be possible for us after the Advent of

Christ ? For we who have been instructed by the Graceof Christ, and born again to a better manhood, andcleansed by His Blood, and encouraged by His

example.These sentences might seem to have a Catholic

meaning. But they do not represent that meaning as

Pelagius uses them. They are phrases of ecclesiastical

tradition which Pelagius could employ in a sense byplacing his own construction upon them. They do

not; convey the Catholic doctrine of the Grace of

Christ.

The whole of the letter encourages self-reliance to an

extraordinary degree. Much is said of studying Scrip-ture. Very little is said of prayer. The need of helpto overcome our weakness is not part of the Pelagian

conception. He pictures God 1 and the angels wit-

nessing the Christian conflict. But God is Spectatorrather than Helper. There is no reference to infusion

of strength.If human weakness pleads that the task is hard and

beyond2 the power of the frailty of the flesh, Pelagius

replies that this plea accuses God of twofold ignorance :

ignorance of what He has created, and ignorance of

what He has commanded. As if He can forget the

limitations of the nature which He created and imposesupon it commandments which it is unable to fulfil. Dowe suppose that God condemns men for disobedience

1 Letter to Demetrias, 14, p. 1395.z Ibid. 16, p. 1396.


which they cannot avoid ? No one knows the measureof our strength better than He that gave that strength.

Accordingly Pelagius fixes attention on texts whichcommand the ideal.1 The Christian is to be blamelessand immaculate in the midst of a perverse generation, a

shining light in the world. There is remarkable con-

fidence in the power of the unassisted will to fulfil all

this. Pelagius appeals to the texts which inculcate

responsibility and affirm our freedom. But he passes in

silence those which confirm our weakness and cry aloudfor help. Demetrias is repeatedly exhorted to act, andto make herself acceptable to Christ. But the stress is

laid entirely on her own ability. It is even strange to

notice how invariably and instinctively every Apostolic

passage is left out which ascribes spiritual progress to

God and the influence of His Grace. 2 Demetrias is to

control her thoughts by the study of the Law of God.Even when Pelagius at last quotes the Apostolic words :

" Now I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me," it doesnot appear to mean for Pelagius the indwelling, co-

operating Christ, but rather the product of humanimitation of a Divine example.And when Pelagius comes to acknowledge that this

ideal is a great undertaking, he supports the Christian

effort,3 not by suggesting an appeal to God for strength,

but simply by reminding Demetrias of the greatness of

the reward to those who are successful.

Thus the principal characteristic of the letter to

Demetrias is its consistent and evidently deliberate

omission of the doctrine of supernatural and moral aid

enabling man to do and become what otherwise he

could not.

The theory of Pelagianism, then, is essentially and

fundamentally a theory of the goodness of humannature

;the power of the human will to realise the

1 Letter to Demetrias, 17, p. 1397-2 Ibid. 27, p. 1409.

3 Ibid. 28, p. 1409.

I3o THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

Divine ideal and achieve its destiny by its own inherent

strength, independently of any further support than

nature supplies. It is a theory which leaves no roomfor Grace. Grace in the sense of supernatural strength

imparted is obviously superfluous in the Pelagian view.

The term may still be employed and was freely em-

ployed. It was impossible not to use a term so

characteristic of Christian thought. But other mean-

ings were assigned to it.

1. Sometimes Pelagians identified Grace with Nature.

Grace denoted the natural endowments with whichman was created : the essential gifts of our spiritualconstitution. Thus Grace was the same thing as Free

Will. To assert that the power of the will was not

enough was to disparage the Creator. To say that wecannot do what God commands is to say that Godcommands the impossible. But this dishonours Him.The Grace of God, then, is the same thing as the gifts of

the natural man.2. Pelagianism freely allowed that Grace might have

a further meaning. For clearly there was one thingwhich men obviously require in addition to the power of

their will and the capacities inherent in their nature.

That one thing is instruction. They must be told whatthe Divine Will is. Enlightenment in the ideals of the

moral Christian Law is essential. The will must be

informed. Grace, then, may be taken in this largersense to represent the Revelation of Truth and Duty :

God telling us what we ought to do and then leaving us

to do it;

for which our unaided will is enough. Ofcourse instruction includes example. There is the ex-

ample of Christ, which is given us for imitation. Thisalso comes under the heading of Grace. The Pelagianadmitted all this, so long as the integrity and indepen-dent sufficiency of the will for the purpose of achievingour eternal destiny was in no way compromised.

3. Then, further, Grace might receive another mean-


ing. It might denote Forgiveness of Sins. This cer-

tainly was requisite in addition to human capabilities.

4. One last concession was made to the advocate of

Grace. It was admitted that there might be encourage-ments to do God's Will which would enable a man to

do that Will more easily. More easily : that was the

phrase. The illustration given is that of a boat on the

water. It will reach its destination more easily with a

sail than with oars. But. the thing can be done withoars only. (" Velo facilius, remo difficilius : tamen -et

remo itur." Sermon 156, 13.)

But Pelagianism insisted that the credit of the

achievement belonged to man. It was man who tookthe initiative in matters of faith. It was man whomerited God's approval by the use of his unaided will.

Accordingly nothing was more abhorrent to Pelagiusthan the famous sentence in Augustine's Confessions :

" Give [grace to do] what Thou commandest and thencommand what Thou wilt." On the contrary, Pelagiusdid not hesitate to say,

" God made us human, we madeourselves righteous." (See Letter 177, I.)

II

To this optimistic view of human nature as it nowexists Augustine's teaching presents the exact antithesis.

i. First of all he insists on the powerlessness of the

unaided will lor good. Unquestionably man was en-

dowed with freedom of decision. And nothing is so

much in our power as the will itself (De Libero Arbitrio,

iii. 7). Nevertheless to speak as if the tendency of the

will was towards good is to contradict the facts of

experience. There is no such thing as natural sanctity :

no moral goodness at all as a product of the unaided

will. The tendency of human nature is towards evil.

It never achieves the Divine ideal. The picture of


ready compliance with Divine commands which Pela-

gius has drawn is fiction and nothing else. He has

ignored the maladies of the will. The will can exist

without the power. We will and we are not able.

(Letter 157, 10.) There is the weakness of the will.

The will is" tanto liberior quanto sanior." (Letter

157, 8-)

Augustine contrasts the general Pelagian view withS. Paul's confession in the Roman Epistle. It is thelatter which represents the experience of humanity.To represent the human will as requiring nothing

more than instruction in moral ideals betrayed an ignor-ance of human incapacity which in Augustine's opinionwas positively tragic. Nothing was more certain in

human experience than the powerlessness of moral ideals

to get themselves obeyed. We acknowledge their

excellence, but we do not fulfil them. Nay, more. Thevery fact that a thing is forbidden awakens resistance

and increases its attractions. To our perversity prohibi-tion increases desire. And if this is the case with a

comparatively low moral standard, the higher the stan-

dard is raised the more powerless the will to achieve it.

If the letter of the law is not accomplished, still less is

its spirit. Hence all moral instruction becomes a

ministration of condemnation and a ministration *>f

death. It tells us what to do and then sits in judgmentupon us for not fulfilling it. All these ideas are com-

monplaces of Augustine's teaching. The most brilliant

exposition of them occurs in the great treatise on the

Spirit and the Letter. The Letter is the moral com-mandment. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit, the Giver of

grace and moral strength to accomplish.When Pelagius taught that what Pagans and Jews

had accomplished before Christ came, Christians ought,a fortiori, to accomplish now that they had the addi-

tional advantages of Christ's illuminating instruction

and example, the British monk forgot that Christ hadmade fulfilment immeasurably more difficult because He


had raised the standard in the Sermon on the Mount to

the highest conceivable levels of sublimity. And the

light-hearted way in which the Pelagian could talk of

fulfilling Christ's ideal and imitating Christ's examplewas to men of Augustine's disposition positively appal-

ling. The imitation of Christ is an aim which should

fill the best of men with the protoundest of despair if

they are expected to attempt it in their own unassisted

strength.2. How is this weakness of the will accounted for ?

It is accounted for by the sinful condition of humannature. Augustine ascribes the origin of this universal

sinfulness to the Fall. The solidarity of mankind in-

volving the whole race in a state of transmitted infe-

rioritythis is Original Sin. Humanity is debased.

Rom. v. 12 is rendered "in whom" [that is, in Adam] "all

sinned." It should be noted here that the fact of uni-

versal sinfulness is one thing ;the explanation of its

cause is another. Pelagius disputed the explanation,but failed to do justice to the fact. His view of sin was

exceedingly superficial, while that of Augustine was

profound. For Pelagius sin was merely an act. For

Augustine it was an abiding condition or state.

Augustine insists that sin is not what Pelagius thinks

it is. It is not a mere deed which passes away leavingthe personality essentially unchanged. On the contrary,it involves the doer in a permanent condition of sinful-

ness. This sinful condition means a tendency towardsevil and a weakening of the moral nature. The sinful

individual is in an abnormal and enfeebled state. Topresent him with the moral ideal is as effective as to tell

the paralysed to walk. That is exactly what his condi-

tion makes impossible. Augustine has analysed this

feebleness of the enslaved will most strikingly in the

pages of his Confessions.The remedies which Pelagianism provided for this

afflicted condition were perfectly futile. They were

merely external applications to heal a deeply rooted


internal malady. Human nature required a completerenewal. Nothing less than entire regeneration of the

inner self could meet the case. Instruction is not

enough. And forgiveness is not enough. The nature

itself must be cleansed and purged and strengthened.The Pelagians in Augustine's opinion are not defenders

of free will. They are its"inflatores et prsecipitatores

"

(De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio, 27). They foster its

pride and encourage its ruin. Neither knowledge of the

Divine Law, nor natural ability, nor forgiveness of sins

is the same thing as the grace given by Jesus Christ.

Grace enables us to fulfil the moral law. It sets our

nature free from the dominion of our sinfulness (#.,

Works, X. 1249).

3. Here then comes in the great Christian doctrine of

Grace : that doctrine of which Augustine is the greatest

exponent.He is never weary of insisting what grace is not. It

is not nature;not our constitutional endowments. The

identification of grace with free will deprives Christianityof its supreme moral value, which consists in its supple-

menting nature, in reinforcing the will. Neither is grace

equivalent to instruction. In the letter to Volusian (137)

Augustine maintains that the two main purposes of the

Incarnation correspond with the two main human defects,

which are ignorance and inability. Accordingly, Christi-

anity offers enlightenment to the one and strength to the

other. The powerlessness of mere instruction in moralsis proverbial. The setting Christ's example for our

imitation is simply appalling if it is to be attempted byour own unaided will. The thing of all others whichhuman nature needs is power. And that power or graceis exactly what Christianity supplies.While Pelagius confined attention to Scriptural com-

mands and ideals and exhortations to holiness, Augus-tine balanced this one-sided presentment of the Christian

religion by an array of passages where an appeal is madeto the help of God

;or absolute dependence upon that


help is acknowledged ;or He is praised for strength

bestowed."It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do."

" What hast thou that thou didst not receive ?"

" Lead us not into temptation."" Order my steps in Thy word and so shall no

wickedness have dominion over me.""

I could not otherwise obtain her except God gaveher me" (Wisd. viii. 21).

In this great doctrine of Grace Augustine simplyexulted. Nowhere has he exhibited such brilliancy,such penetration. Nowhere does he carry a doctrine

out more completely to its results. Every spiritual

quality is a Divine gift.

If he thinks of love towards God, he has not the

slightest doubt that this love does not originate in a

movement of man towards God. It is awakened in manby the Spirit.

" The love of God," by which Augustineunderstands man's love toward God, "is shed abroad in

our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given us." Lovetowards God is God's own gift. (" Ut ea quae facienda

discendo novimus, etiam diligendo faciamus." Letter

188, 3.)

If he thinks of prayer, he is certain that our very

petitions to God for help are the work of the Spirit co-

operating with us and according to our weak appeals

any value they may possess.If he thinks of faith, he is equally clear that God takes

the initiative, not man. Faith does not originate in

man's decision. Man cannot believe unless God giveshim faith.

It is"according as God hath dealt to each man a

measure of faith" (Rom. xii. 3). Christ Himself has

said :

" No man can come to Me, except the Father

which sent Me draw him "(John vi. 44) ;

" No mancan come unto Me, except it be given unto him of

the Father" (John vi. 15).

Augustine had not always appreciated this. In the


early period of his thought, before his episcopate, hemaintained that our faith is due to ourselves, but our

good works to God. But in his maturer judgment this

was wrong."

I should not have said it," he wrote," had

I realised that faith itself is among the gifts of Godwhich are bestowed by the Spirit

"{Retract, xxiii. 2).

The conclusion from this doctrine of Grace is inevit-

able. And it is exactly the contrary to the Pelagianidea. For if love is a gift and faith is a gift and prayeritself, so far as it is acceptable, is a work of the Spiritwithin us, then it is clear that God takes the initiative,

not man, and that grace begins and accompanies all

human effort which possesses any moral worth. Ac-

cordingly, the conclusion is expressed in the celebrated

sentence that God, when He crowns human merits,

crowns His own gifts (Letter 194, 19).

It is a striking illustration of Augustine's influence onWestern religious thought that this sentence is embodiedin the teaching.of the Council of Trent. 1

Although, saysthe Council, much is attributed in Scripture to goodworks,

" nevertheless God forbid that a Christian should

either trust or glory in himself, and not in the Lord,Whose bounty towards all men is so great, that Hewill have the things which are His own gifts be their

merits."

4. But what moved Augustine most of all, and to the

depth of his being, was his keen realisation of the bearingof Pelagianism on the place of Christ in Redemption.The Pelagian theory of man's capacity to fulfil unaidedhis own destiny was destructive to the whole Christian

conception of justification through Christ. They that

are whole need not a physician. Christ did not come to

call the righteous. Men who were competent to complywith the Divine requirements by their own independentstrength could not owe their salvation to Christ. Then

1Water-worth, Canons and Decrees of the Council of J^rent, p. 43.

Session VI. Chap. XVI.


the Apostolic doctrine that there is no other name underheaven through Whom Salvation is possible beside the

name of Christ is not true (De Natura et Gratia, 46).Then is the cross of Christ made of none effect. Augus-tine cannot resist applying here the words : "This wisdomis not from above "

(ib. 6). It is only by Regenera-tion conferred through Christ that the human soul can

acquire eternal life (ib. 7). If Pelagius interposeshere that he admits the necessity of Christ as an instruc-

tor how we ought to live, although not as a vital force

of grace enabling us, Augustine retorts :

" Here is a

miserable condition of the human mind, which knowshow to tame a lion but is ignorant how it ought itself to

live. If the power of the unaided human will suffices to

live aright, then Christ has died in vain. Pelagianismis a mere ignoring of the divinely given righteousnessand a futile endeavour to establish a righteousness of

our own "(ib. 47) .

According to the Pelagian view, heaven will contain

two distinct types of men : those who have been justified

by Christ and those who have been justified without

Him. There is, then, more than one way into the life of

God. There is a way with which Christ has nothing to

do. But this is false. There is only one Mediatorbetween God and men. Surely the Pelagians, exclaims

Augustine, must see, without any further remarks from

him, how abhorrent this theory should be to Christian

minds {Contra Julian, vi. 8 1; Works, X. 1207).

Thus the truth is, that in the Pelagian scheme Christ

sinks from Redeemer to the mere level of a prophet or

teacher of morals and religion. His Incarnation andHis Death are deprived of their life-giving power. Heis no longer the Saviour of Humanity, but is degraded to

a totally inferior position.

Consequently Augustine's work, viewed from this

aspect, is" a defence of the Christian doctrine of the

Atonement. His accusation against the Pelagians wasthat they glorified the Creator at the expense of the


Redeemer. They laid such stress on Nature that theyleft no room for Grace.

Ill

Whenever the human mind has to dwell on comple-mentary truths it is invariably liable to disproportion. It

readily places undue stress on the one or else on the other.

i. Augustine saw with perfect clearness that the

production of a saint is a work of God and man com-bined. But the exact proportion which ought to beascribed to Divine action and to Human action, to

Grace and to Free Will respectively, in the process, is

a problem of exceeding difficulty. Augustine in the

course of the discussion laid increasing stress on the

Divine side in the production of a saint, until Gracedominated everything, and the formidable conclusions

of Predestination emerged, and man appeared to beno more than the helpless clay in the hands of the

Potter. Then the doctrine of universal Atonement,the Redemption of the race, became narrowed down,under the exigencies of an overwhelming conception of

Divine power, to the Redemption of a selected few,

arbitrarily selected from the massa perditionis. Theclear Evangelical universality of the Apostolic belief

that He "will have all men to be saved and cometo the knowledge of the truth," became forced into

a strange self-contradiction of what it says ;so that

4<all men "

did not mean all men, but only all those

men whom Providence for inscrutable, if just, reasons

arbitrarily selected to eternal life.1

Augustine's correspondence brings out into exceed-

ingly clear light the inability of Augustine's disciples to

force these opinions on certain Catholics of the period.And it certainly is one of the most significant ironies

1 Bossuet identified this with the Faith of the Church. (Defensede la Tradition, II. xiii. ch. x.) But he was not fair to RichardSimon. See rather Rottmanner, Der Augustinismus, 1892.


of theological development if it was against Augus-tine's extreme conclusions that the famous VincentianCanon was formulated.

2. Nevertheless, the defects of Pelagianism are im-

measurably more serious than any of the most rigorousconclusions of Augustine; for Pelagianism is simply the

religion of the natural man. If logically carried outthere is no Christianity left. Incarnation, Redemption,Grace, all disappeared, because they are made super-fluous. The words may be retained. The presenceof the Church's belief, the constant traditional use of

the great expressions compelled the Pelagian to acceptwords which represented conceptions wholly incom-

patible with his ideals. Thus he retained the Baptismof Infants, for which his theory left no real room. Butwhile he retained the words, he "reconstructed" their

meaning. That is, he replaced the principles which

they represented by something totally different to the

Church's use of them.No two better champions of the two religions could

have been discovered. Each pleaded for the value of

his own experience. Pelagius, the calm, dispassionateman of strong will and high principles, had apparentlynever known the fiery trials by which human life is

too often rent in twain. He felt no need for anythingwhich nature did not supply. Augustine was the exact

antithesis. His stormy impulses and the passions of

his youth had dragged him through degradations which

gave tremendous power to his exposition of the doctrine

of Grace. He is expounding that Grace upon whichhis whole religious security depends.

IV

In order to follow Augustine's Letters on this subjectit is necessary to bear in mind the main facts concerningPelagius and Celestius.

Pelagius was of British birth. He resided in Rome


sometime before the approach of the Goths in 410 : thencehe escaped to Africa, visited Hippo when Augustine wasnot there. They were at Carthage together. But it wasthe time of the Conference with the Donatists (411) andthe monk's peculiar theories were not observed. Pela-

gius then went on to Palestine. His disciple Celestius,

who was also in Carthage, did not escape undetected.

Celestius attempted to get ordained;but he was op-

posed by Paulinus, one of the deacons of the Church of

Milan, who, at Augustine's request, wrote S. Ambrose'slife. Paulinus accused Celestius of heresy before Aure-

lius, Bishop of Carthage. The consequence was, that

Celestius could not get ordained. He removed at onceto Ephesus, where he secured his aim.

Augustine was speedily informed of the Pelagianideas. He wrote and preached in reply to them. Hecomposed in 412 his treatises on the Forgiveness of Sins

and the Baptism of Infants, also the great treatise onthe Spirit and the Letter: all these for the benefit of his

friend, Count Marcellinus. But he nowhere attacked

Pelagius. On the contrary, he wrote him a friendlyletter

; expressing regard for his character, of this

Pelagius afterwards made much use. (Letter 146.)Meanwhile Pelagius settled at Jerusalem, where he

ingratiated himself into the society of the Bishop John.

Thereupon the old lion at Bethlehem began to growl.

Jerome made rude references in his commentary on

Jeremiah to a false antagonist," the grunter," an indoctus

calumniator, and his follower a "stolidissimus" indi-

vidual "stuffed to repletion with Scotch porridge." ThePelagian theories have been reported at Bethlehem.

Jerome, in a fierce reply to a correspondent, quotesEcclesiasticus :

" Why art thou proud, O dust andashes?" 1 In God's sight shall no man living be justi-

fied. And here are men who talk of being without sin;

and who say thnt we are not supported in separate

1 Ecclus. x. 9. Letter to Ctesiphon.


actions by Divine Grace, and identify Grace with FreeWill. Jerome freely flings about the charge of sacrilegeand blasphemy. Then, grappling with his unnamed but

very obvious opponent, Jerome accuses him of teachingin private what he dare not preach openly, and calls

upon him to imitate Jonah, and to say :

"If this disturb-

ance is on my account, take me and cast me into the

sea."

Pelagius did not act on Jerome's advice. But Jeru-salem and Bethlehem grew estranged. John of Jerusalemwas well disposed towards his visitor, and ill disposedtowards Jerome, of whose learned ferocity he was afraid.

Meanwhile movements were being matured in the

Bishop's house at Hippo. The learned Spanish priest,

Orosius, was on a visit there, consulting Augustine ondoctrinal affairs. Augustine persuaded him to go onto Palestine. The motive announced was to consult

S. Jerome on the subject of the Origin of the Soul.

But there can be little doubt that another motive laybeneath. It was to prevent the Bishop of Jerusalemfrom committing himself to any approval of Pelagianideas. 1

Augustine was not fortunate in his messenger.Orosius was full of zeal, but he was deficient in the

qualities of a diplomatist. He exhibited no discretion.

It may be that Jerome's influence enhanced his con-

troversial vehemence. The result was that the Bishopof Jerusalem called him to attend a conference of clergyand to give a public explanation.

2 This was in 415.Orosius himself has left us his account of it, from whichit is easy to see that he must have appeared to the

Bishop of Jerusalem as an advocate of African Church

opinions, attempting to enforce unquestioning deference

to the views of Aurelius of Carthage and Augustineof Hippo. Orosius compares himself at Bethlehem to

David called forth to meet the Philistine. He had come

1Cf, Duchesne, Histoire Anctcnne de FEglise, iii. 218.

2Orosius, Liber Apologeticus, Chaps. 2-4.


from Father Augustine, and was seated at the feet of

Jerome. In the Conference at Jerusalem he was askedwhat he had to say about false doctrine. He read

before the Conference Augustine's letter to Hilary(Letter 157). Bishop John then directed that Pelagiusshould be admitted. Pelagius was asked whether he

taught what Augustine condemned. To which he

replied," What is Augustine to me ?

"These words

created scandal. But Bishop John brushed them aside

by observing that he represented Augustine at that

meeting. Whereupon Orosius confesses that he madethe extremely unwise retort: "It you represent Augus-tine's person, follow Augustine's faith." Orosius wasthen asked what he had to say against Pelagius?Orosius soon felt that he had gone too far. The Bishopof Jerusalem was evidently ready to act as judge. It

now appears to have dawned on Orosius that he mustnot let the African decision be brought in disputebefore a tribunal evidently favourable to Pelagius.

Accordingly Orosius said that this was a discussion

belonging to the Latin world and must be referred to

Latin Judges. He secured that the whole questionshould be referred to Innocent of Rome. It was justas well. Bishop John spoke Greek, Orosius Latin.

The discussion was conducted through an interpreterwho was none too qualified for his task.

Indeed, the Bishop of Jerusalem entirely misunder-stood Orosius ;

and on a subsequent occasion chargedhim with teaching heresy.

Pelagius's opponents in Palestine were discomfited butdetermined not to let matters stop where they were.

Accordingly they resolved to appeal to the MetropolitanEulogius, Bishop of Caesarea. The subject, therefore,came before the Synod of Diospolis (or Lydda) in

December 41 5. Augustine has preserved fragments ofthis Council in Letter 186 (31, 32, 33). It appearsthat Pelagius exerted n.uch subtlety ; gave plausible butevasive answers, which the Greeks, unfamiliar with the


intricacies of the Latin discussions, were unable to

discriminate from orthodox belief. He seemed to

anathematise what they required of him. He producedAugustine's courteous letter to him and flourished it as a

certificate of his orthodoxy. Altogether he completelywon his judges. He showed much cleverness and readi-

ness, and an engaging frankness;with the result that the

fourteen bishops who heard his explanations were quite

prepared to acquit him of heresy.That Synod of Diospolis holds an important place in

Augustine's correspondence, as also in that of PopesInnocent and Zosimus. The news of Pelagius's acquittalfilled Augustine with dismay. Jerome characterises it

with his customary vigour. It was a great asset on the

Pelagian side.

Some time elapsed before Augustine could obtain a

copy of the Acta of the Council. But presently Orosius

himself returned to Africa with information from Jeromeand the report of the acquittal.

In a letter written about 414l to Hilary, the necessity

of supernatural help over and above man's natural

abilities, if he is to fulfil the Divine commands, is taughtwith characteristic earnestness. Augustine repeats in

this letter (what he has written in the famous treatise

on the Spirit and the Letter), that while the assertion

that any other man, Christ alone excepted, ever lived

absolutely without sin is permissible, the theory that

free will is sufficient to fulfil the Divine commands with-

out being assisted by the grace of God and the gift of

the Holy Spirit, is to be anathematised and abominated. 2

Free will is sufficient to good works if it be divinelyassisted. 3 But there is no solid righteousness (whatever

knowledge may exist), where a man is deserted by the

support of God. Lead us not into temptation meansdo not desert us in temptation. This free will of ours


3 Letter 157, 5.


is free in proportion as it is healthy, and it is healthy in

proportion as it is subject to Divine Grace. . . . Hencethe petition

" Order my steps in thy word, and so shall

no wickedness have dominion over me." 1 It is not hewho trusts in his own strength, but he who calls on the

name of the Lord that shall be saved. 2

Accordingly Augustine repeats some of his favourite

phrases. God orders self-control and gives self-control :

He orders it by the Law;He gives it by Grace

;orders it

by the letter and gives it by the Spirit. For the Letter

without the Spirit killeth. 3 Here is the main principle of

the famous treatise on the Letter and the Spirit.

Augustine then proceeds to expound his terrifying

theory of the fate of infants dying unbaptised. The

Pelagian discredited altogether the doctrine of OriginalSin. According to his definition sin is an act of the

individual will. Infants then have no sin. Consequentlythey cannot be condemned. Whether they die baptisedor not they must be saved.

Augustine, defining sin as a condition of the entire

fallen race,4 from which no one was exempt, made

Original Sin the basis of his whole discussion. This, as

he understood it, was the meaning ofthe Pauline language,"By one man sin entered into the world and death

through sin." Accordingly Augustine argued as follows.

In Adam every individual is condemned. Salvation is

only possible through regeneration. Regeneration is

only given to the baptised. Those, therefore, who die

unbaptised die unregenerate. And to die unregenerateis to be lost.5 Generation is only through Adam.Regeneration is only through Christ.

Both theories are perfectly logical, granting their

premises. Naturally they nowhere meet. The Pelagiandoes not appear to have reckoned that innocence is not

the same as holiness. Augustine does not seem to have

1 Letter 157, pp. 119133. 2 Letter 157, 8.

3 Letter 157, 9.4 Letter 157, n.

t Letter 157, 13.


asked why the Almighty should be so restricted by Hisown sacramental methods as to be unable or unwillingto bestow regenerating grace in any other way.He assures his correspondent, Hilary, that those who

desire to live in Christ must pay no attention to those

who contradict the Apostles' teaching. The theory that

sinfulness is not transmitted, but only affects us as a bad

example, is to be absolutely rejected.1

Augustine informs Hilary2 that he has discussed this

subject in many treatises and serm6ns, because these

errors had infected his own neighbourhood. They also

exist in Carthage. Celestius had been living in that

city ;and was fairly on the way to the dignity of the

priesthood, if his heresies had not been discovered and

episcopally condemned. Celestius was unable to recon-

cile his theories concerning infants dying unbaptisedwith the prevalent ecclesiastical practice of the baptismof infants. For why should infants be baptised if theyhad no need to be redeemed ? Augustine is reluctantly

compelled to mention Celestius's name;for the Bishop

suspects that this is the source which is disturbing

Hilary's faith.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this letter to

Hilary is the section on the relation of Christianity to

wealth.3 Celestius and his adherents upheld the ideal

of poverty, of absolute renunciation of all possessionsas the Christian duty of all rich men. They taughtthat if a rich man retained his riches he could not enter

the Kingdom of God.

Augustine's reply to this is a most remarkable testi-

mony to his power of seeing the two elements on both

sides of a moral question. He observes to begin with

that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all rich men, and

yet they are the persons with whom many shall sit downin the Kingdom of Heaven. The beggar Lazarus also was

poor, but he was admitted in Paradise into the bosom

1 Letter 157, 21. 2 Letter 157, 22. 3 Letter 157, 23.

K


of Abraham who was rich. These facts demonstrate to

us that neither is poverty accepted as such, nor wealthcondemned as such.

The followers of Celestius replied that the retention 1

of riches was permissible under the old Dispensation, butnot after Christ's express command,

uSell all that thou

hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure

in heaven;and come follow me."

Augustine answers :2 This is only a partial and one-

sided use of Christ's injunction. Christ said those wordsin reply to an inquiry. The inquiry was " What shall

I do to obtain eternal life ?"

Christ did not say in reply,If tho.u wilt enter into life sell all that thou hast

;but if

thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments. Whenthe rich young man replied that he had kept all these

and asked, What lack I yet? Christ answered, If thouwilt be perfect go sell all that thou hast and give to the

poor. To' this also Christ added two things: first, by-way of encouragement, Thou shalt have treasure in

Heaven; secondly, Come, follow Me : lest the young man

should imagine his renunciation of possessions would

profit him unless he also followed Christ. Augustinethinks that the young man's claim to have kept all the

commandments was spoken"arrogantius quam verius."

But in any case Christ drew a clear distinction between,the commandments of life and the counsels of perfection.

Why, then, should Christians deny that obedience to the

Commandments secures entrance into life, even if the

counsel of perfection has not been followed ?

This, says Augustine,3agrees with S. Paul's instructions

for rich people (i Tim. vi. 17-19). Surely the Apostleis not mistaken. He did not instruct Timothy to chargethem that are rich in this world, that they sell all that

they have and give to the poor ;but that they were not to

be proud, nor to trust in uncertain riches. It was the pride

1 Letter 157, 24.2 Letter 157, 25.

3 Letter 157, 26.


of wealth and the faith in material possessions which

brought Dives to the place of torment. It was notriches as such.

If his opponents infer from our Lord's reflection,1 "

It

is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle

than for a rich man to enter into the K ingdom of Heaven,"that a rich man who obeys S. Paul's instructions cannotenter into the Kingdom of Heaven, Augustine propoundsa dilemma:

Either the Apostle contradicts our Lord, or else these

Pelagians are mistaken. 2 No Christian will doubt whichof these alternatives to adopt. I think it better for us to

believe that these men do not understand, than to believe

that S. Paul contradicted our Lord. Did not Christ addthat what was impossible with men is easy with God ?

On the other side Christ spoke of those who have"left houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or

children or lands for His Name's sake" (Matt. xix.

29). Christ spoke of renunciation as the condition of

discipleship3(Luke. xiv. 33). He who renounces the

world for the purpose of becoming Christ's discipledoes certainly renounce all that the world contains. Butrenunciation of wealth may appear in various forms.

It may consist in withholding love from our possessions ;

or in liberal distribution to the poor ;or in transference

to Christ of that faith and hope which some perversely

place in riches. It may consist in the disposition andreadiness to forsake father or mother or wife or child if

Christ cannot be retained without forsaking them.

Augustine quotes Cyprian's sentence on renunciation of

the world in words but not in reality.4 But Augustine

is quite clear that rich men can truly renounce the worldwhile retaining their possessions, and converting those

possessions to a proper use, breaking their bread to the

hungry, clothing the naked, and redeeming the captives.




Consequently these Pelagians may exhort if they will

to higher courses so long as they do not condemn inferior

ones. 1 If they exalt virginity they must not condemnthe married state. Did not the Apostle say that eachone has his special gift from God : one in one direction,one in another ? Let them take the way of perfectionand sell all that they have. But they must not condemnthose who retain their possessions in a Christian spirit.

Augustine reinforces all this by an extremely tellingreference to his own case. 2 "

I who write these thingswas greatly drawn to love that way of perfection whichthe Lord described when he said to the rich young -man,4

Go, sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, andthou shalt have treasure in Heaven

;and come follow

Me :

'

and, not in my own strength, but by His Grace

assisting me, I have so done. Nor will it be less

accounted to me because I was not rich : for neither

were the Apostles rich, who did the same before me.For he renounces all the world who renounces what he

possesses and what he hopes to possess."This way of perfection, then, has Augustine's emphatic

preference. He will encourage others in it to the best

of his power. Nevertheless he will never do it in such a

way as to depreciate those who retain their possessions in

a Christian spirit and make religious use of what theyretain.

The African Episcopate put out its collective strength

against the Pelagian heresy. Councils were held at

Carthage3 in 416 and at Milevis 4 in the same year; and

letters were written by both these Councils to PopeInnocent at Rome. The Bishops invoked the authorityof the Holy See to support their efforts. They are

clearly apprehensive that the acquittal of Pelagius in the

unfortunate Synod of Diospolis may prejudice Innocent's

mind by concealing from him the serious nature of the

1 Letter 157, 37.2 Letter 157, 39.



errors to which Pelagius in reality adheres. They insist,

therefore, that if Innocent thinks that Pelagius was

rightly acquitted so far as his expressions went, yetnevertheless the erroneous doctrine widely prevalent

among his followers ought to be condemned. They call

on Innocent to realise that Pelagianism is laying suchstress on the natural abilities by which we are human,that it leaves no place for the Grace of God, by whichwe are Christians. For, according to Pelagian views, weought not to pray,

" Lead us not into temptation,"

although Christ Himself taught us so to pray ;nor to

pray lest our faith should fail, which our Lord did for

S. Peter.

There is little doubt that this letter of the Council of

Carthage represented Augustine's mind and influence,

although his name does not appear in the list of the

signatures.At the Council of Milevis Augustine was present.

1 Aletter similar in character to that of the Council of

Carthage was sent to Innocent.

Augustine was apparently not entirely satisfied withthis. At any rate he supported it in a longer letter, sent

from Bishop Aurelius of Carthage, together with three

of Augustine's intimate friends, Bishops Alypius,Evodius and Possidius, of whom the last became

Augustine's biographer.In this important letter on Pelagian ideas Augustine

quotes the maxim which was to him peculiarly abhorrent :

" God made us men, we made ourselves righteous." It

would be impossible to conceive a maxim more irrecon-

cilable with Augustine's experience. The effect of such

teaching was to render a Saviour superfluous. It madehuman nature self-sufficient and independent of the

Grace of God.

Augustine understands that Pelagius has supportersin Rome. They think that he does not really hold such

1 Letter 176.


opinions. They appeal to the fact of his acquittal bythe Bishops in the Council of Diospolis. Augustineexplains that this acquittal was due to the fact that

Pelagius employed the term "Grace" in one sense andhis judges in another. Pelagius meant by

" Grace "the

endowment by which we are human. The Bishopsmeant by

" Grace "the gifts whereby we are Christians.

Augustine suggests that Pelagius should be summonedto Rome and carefully examined on the sense which heattaches to the term " Grace." If he means that wherebymen are divinely assisted to avoid sin and lead a holylife, then let him be acquitted.But if he holds that " Grace

"is the same as free will,

or forgiveness, or moral commandments, then he is

leaving out precisely those gifts which constitute Grace;

the power to overcome temptation which is derived fromthe Ascended Christ. The prayer

" Lead us not into

temptation"

is not a prayer that we may be granted the

faculties which are natural to us as men. Nor is it a

prayer that we may be forgiven. We have already

prayed for that when we say"forgive us our trespasses."

It is a prayer that we may be enabled to do that whichis commanded.The obvious distinction between Law and Grace is

that the former commands and the latter enables.

Augustine sends Innocent a sample of Pelagian

writings. It is the document which he answered in

his treatise concerning Nature and Grace. He sendsthe Pope a copy of both

; marking the passages whichhe wants Innocent to read, in order not to be burden-

some. If Pelagius disowns authorship of the work whichhas been ascribed to him, that is no matter. Augustinewill not press it. Only let Pelagius anathematise its

contents.

The letter closes with a deferential assurance that the

writers do not dream of adding anything to Innocent's

amplitude of knowledge. The writers have explainedtheir position in order to be reassured by the Pope's reply.


The Synod of Diospolis had of course acquitted

Pelagius under a total misapprehension of his meaning.But their acquittal naturally promoted his influence andset the Catholic Bishops in grave perplexity. For

Pelagius naturally flourished in their faces the decision

of Diospolis as a certificate of his orthodoxy.The indefatigable Bishop of Hippo wrote to John,

Bishop of Jerusalem,1

assuring him that he and his

colleagues had been deceived. The disciples of Pelagiushad brought one of their master's writings to Augustine.In that book Pelagius had employed the term "Grace"

simply as an equivalent for" Nature "

;and had con-

tended vehemently that men are able to realise the ideal

by the unassisted power of their own free will. Howwas it possible, Augustine asks, to harmonise this theorywith the Apostolic cry :

" O wretched man that I am !

who shall deliver me ?" And why should Christ have

prayed for S. Peter that his faith fail not if stability is in

the power of our own will without any help from God ?

Augustine is anxious to avoid prolixity, chiefly becausehe writes in Latin and his words will require to be

interpreted in Greek. But Augustine sends a copy of

Pelagius's own book for the Bishop to see. Also he sendshis own book on Nature and Grace written in reply to it.

He entreats Bishop John to teach Pelagius the true

faith. He suggests some questions which the Bishopsin Palestine should put to this erring mind. He requeststhat a copy of the Acts of the Synod of Diospolis should

be sent to Africa. This is on behalf of the African

Bishops in general. Nothing has reached them as yetbut a fragment circulated by Pelagius himself. Theyare most anxious to possess a complete account of the

whole Synod.Innocent sent replies to the letters 2 which he had

received from the Council of Carthage, the Council of

Milevis, and the Five Bishops.

1 Letter 179, A.D. 416.2 Letters 181, 182, 183.


First comes Innocent's reply to the Council of Car-

thage. Innocent speaks in lofty terms of the dignity of

his See, and highly approves the conduct of the Bishopsat Carthage in referring to his judgment. He commendsthem for knowing what is due to the Apostolic See. 1

For the Apostolic See is the final and completingendorsement of what is done elsewhere.2

This assertion of the claims of his See is really the

principal part of Innocent's letter. He goes on at some

length indeed to speak of the Pelagian contradiction to

the doctrine of Grace. 3 He quotes the Psalmist's words:"Lord, be Thou my helper, leave me not neither forsake

me, O God of my salvation" (Ps. xxvii. 9). He declares

that the entire Psalter proclaims the necessity of Divine

support. He represents the Christian doctrine as main-

taining that through the cleansing of the New Regenera-tion God purges away in the laver of Baptism all pastsin, and places the baptised in a condition which makesfurther progress possible ;

but that God does not refuse

His Grace in the future. There must be daily remediesfor the reparation of post-baptismal sin.

Innocent adds that it is unnecessary for him to saymore, since the Bishops have said everything already.

Accordingly he reaches his conclusion. Whosoeverassents to the opinion that we have no need of the

1 Scientes quid Apostolicae Sedi, cum omnes hoc loco positi

ipsum sequi desideremus apostolurrr, debeatur, a quo ipse episco-

patus et tota auctoritas nominis hujus emersit.2Quern sequentes, tarn mala damnare novimus quam probare

laudanda. Vel id vero quid patrum instituta sacerdotali custodi-

entes officio non censetis esse calcanda, quod illi non humana, sed

divina decrevere sententia, ut quidquid quamvis in disjunctis

remotisque provinciis ageretur, non prius ducerent finiendum, nisi

ad hujus Sedis notitiam perveniret : ut tota hujus auctoritate justa

qua fuerit pronuntiatio firmaretur, indeque sumerent caeterae

Ecclesiae (velut de natali suo fonte aquas cunctae procederent, et

per diversas totius mundi regiones puri latices capitis incorrupt!

manarent) quid pmeciperent, quos abluerent, quos velut caeno

inemundabili sordidatos mundis digna corporibus unda vitaret.

3 Letter 181, 6.


Divine assistance (adjutorium) is an enemy of the

Catholic Faith, and unworthy of our Communion.Such persons must be severed from the healthy Bodyuntil such time as he recants.

Innocent in replying to the Council of Carthagementions by name each Bishop present. In replying to

the Council of Milevis 1 he mentions two Bishops onlyand addresses the Synod collectively.

In this letter Innocent applies to himself what S. Paul

had claimed, the care of all the Churches;commends

the Council for consulting the Apostolic See as to what

opinion ought to be maintained. He sees that the

Bishops understand that responses to these inquiries are

always sent through all the provinces from the Apostolicfount. Especially in matters of faith all his brothers

and fellow-bishops should refer to Peter, that is to the

author of their name and dignity.After this introduction Innocent turns to the errors 01

Pelagius and his follower Celestius, both of whom hementions by name. Innocent applies to them the wordsof the Psalmist (Hymnidicus) :

" Lo this is the man that

took not God for his strength." To say that eternal life

can be obtained by infants unbaptised2 is

"perfatuum."

" For except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man anddrink His Blood ye have no life in you." This cannot bewithout Regeneration.

Wherefore Pelagius and Celestius are by Apostolic

authority3 to be deprived of ecclesiastical communion

until they recover.

The letter is dated in the Consulship of Honorius andConstantius.

To the five Bishops, Aurelius of Carthage, Alypius ot

Thagaste, Augustine of Hippo, Evodius of Uzala, andPossidius of Calama, Innocent sent a separate reply :

4 a

noteworthy tribute to their importance in the Pelagian

dispute.1 Letter 182. 2 Letter 182, 5.3 Letter 182, 6. 4 Letter 183, A.D. 417.

154 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINEi

This letter is more confidential.1 Innocent does notknow whether there are any followers of Pelagius in

Rome. If they exist they have concealed themselves;

and it is difficult to ascertain in so large a community.Innocent has received certain documents, Acts of a

Council, which some laymen have sent him. Accordingto these documents Pelagius has been acquitted. ButInnocent has his misgivings about the reality of all this.

The internal evidence of the document seems to betrayevasiveness. He hopes that there has been a genuineconversion.

In his letter to Peter and Abraham 2Augustine says

that baptised infants are to be regarded as believers.

[This subject had already been discussed in Letter 98,see p. 290.] We have seen that Innocent in Letter 182

(p. 153), taught the necessity both of Baptism and Com-munion for salvation. Augustine says much the samein his treatise on the Forgiveness of Sin (Book I. 34).He tells us that Punic Christians called Baptism, Salva-

tion, and the Sacrament of Christ's Body, Life. Heregards it as an Apostolic tradition that without parti-

cipation in Baptism and the Table of the Lord there

is no way of entrance into eternal life. Thus, Scripture

says," He saved us by the Washing of Regeneration."

Accordingly, unless infants are admitted by the divinelyinstituted Sacrament into the number of believers theywill remain in the darkness.3

Here, in Letter 184 B, Augustine does not shrink fromthe tremendous negative side of this question.

4 He doesnot only say that infants if baptised are saved and are

believers;but he proceeds to add that, if unbaptised,

they are unbelievers and are condemned. He held,

indeed, that their condemnation will be " minima pcena,non tamen nulla." 5 He asserts that there will be degrees

1 Letter 183, 2.2 Letter 184 B, 2.

3 Works, Tom. X. pp. 214-215; cf. Book III 2, #. p. 287).4 Letter 184 B, 2.

5 De Peccat. Remis. i. 21, in damnatione omnium mitissima.


of future penalty ; basing this statement on the NewTestament principle that it shall be more tolerable for

one city than for another in the final account. But hemaintains that there is no final third position between

being saved and being lost; of, as he puts it, between

regnum and supplicium. Nothing can deliver but the

Grace of God. And that Grace Augustine here, as else-

where, tied to the outward sign so inseparably that not

Christ Himself could extend His Grace beyond it.

Augustine regards all human individuals as conceivedin sin. 1 The Virgin Birth excepted Christ from this

inheritance. [Cf. Letter 202 B, 20. No soul exceptthat of the one Mediator escaped contracting fromAdam Original Sin, or was loosed without regener-ation. Augustine puts this doctrine of the VirginBirth more plainly elsewhere :

" What was more purethan the Virgin's womb, whose flesh although

' de pec-cati propagine venit, nori tamen de peccati propagine con-

cepit'

?"

(Literal Interpretation of Genesis, Book X. 32.

Works, Tom. III. 431). "Christ took the visible sub-

stance of the flesh from the flesh of the Virgin. Theprinciple of this Conception came not from the side of

man but far otherwise and from above" (ib. 35, p. 434)-]Whatever is conceived in the ordinary course of nature

requires to be born again. Carnal generation cannot

dispense with spiritual regeneration.2

Augustine goes on to speak of the books which hehas now completed of the work on The City of God.

He has now got as far as Book XIV. The first five booksare designed to refute those who advocated Polytheismas a source of temporal advantages. The next five

apply to those who advocated Polytheism as a means of

future blessedness. In this section comes his answerto Pagan philosophies. If his correspondents will read

the later books they will find answers to their inquiries.Some most important particulars about the Pelagian

1 Letter 184 B,4. 2 Letter 184.


controversy are given in the letter l addressed by BishopsAlypius and Augustine to Paulinus, Bishop of Nola.This is the letter which says that Pelagius was of

British extraction : a fact which other writers haveendorsed in forms more expressive than courteous.

Thus, Prosper calls Pelagius the British snake, and

Jerome, with his customary forcefulness, describes himas stuffed with Scottish porridge :

" Scotorum pultibus

prsegravatus."2

A copy of one of Pelagius's writings had been sent bysome of his admirers to Augustine. The Bishop there-

upon wrote a reply (the Treatise on Nature and Grace] ,

without mentioning Pelagius by name. That was writ-

ten two years before the present letter. Augustine hadreasons for omitting to name Pelagius. The Bishophad been favourably impressed by Pelagius's character,and had sent him a courteous note,

3 written in 413,which certainly did not commit its writer to very much,least of all to any endorsement of its recipient's pecu-liarities. It was extremely brief, remarkably so for

Augustine, who scarcely knew how to write short notes.

It only contained some hundred words in all. But

Pelagius converted it to his purposes. It was much to

be able to produce a kindly letter from the great leader

ofAfrican religious thought. Augustine felt it necessarywhen writing his treatise on the acquittal of Pelagius

by the Palestine Synod to explain what his letter

to Pelagius was intended to convey. (See De Gestis

Pelagii, 50-5 3, where this letter is reproduced. Works,X. 510.) ;

In the present letter to Paulinus, Augustine explainsthat he had previously written against Pelagian errors

without mentioning their advocate, because he hopedthat Pelagius might be recovered by this indirect refuta-

tion and so a scandal might be avoided.

Augustine adds that reports of the two Councils of

1 Letter 186, A.D. 417-2

Ct. p 140.3 Letter 146.


Carthagel and Milevis had been sent to the Apostolic

See before the Ecclesiastical Acts of the Province of

Palestine, in which Pelagius was acquitted, had reachedAfrica. The reference of course is to the Synod of

Diospolis or Lydda. Augustine also refers to his ownletter to Innocent, and adds that the Pope had repliedas was right and becoming for an occupant of the

Apostolic See.

Augustine urges that Pelagius should be advised 2 to

consider whether his acceptance by God was a reward of

his merits;whether he first sought God or God first

sought him;whether God did not care to seek and to

save that which was lost. For if Pelagius sought Godfirst it could only be as one who had no goodness of his

own. If Pelagius believes in One Who justifies the

evil, what else could he be but evil before he was

justified ?

Augustine dwells much in this letter 3 on the differ-

ences between moral commands and power to obey.It is the distinction which he has so magnificently

explained in his great treatise on The Spirit and the

Letter. The Law commands us what to do. But it is

the Spirit which enables us to do it. Unless the Spiritof God infuses grace and strength to fulfil it, the letter

of the Law condemns us for our failure to obey.Here, as ever, Augustine reiterates :

4 What hast thouthat thou didst not receive? If the Pelagian answers,

My faith : Augustine replies, Faith is the gift of God.

According as He hath given to every man the measureof faith. Human merit does not precede Divine Grace.

But Grace when given may merit to be increased.

When questioned on the problem of Predestina-

tion 5 why out of the same mass God should makeone for honour and another for dishonour Augustineadmits that it is insoluble. The judgments of God are

1 Letter 186, 2.2 Letter 186, 6.

3 Letter 186, 9.4 Letter 186, 10.

5 Letter 186, 12.


inscrutable, but they are not unjust. For in Augustine's

opinion God had a perfect right to select;

l to remitin one case and not in another. We note here, as

constantly during the last period of the Pelagian dis-

cussions, that Augustine conceives of God as powerrather than as love. But he considers that his teachingis in keeping with the Apostolic maxim,2 " Whom Hewills He pities, and whom He wills He hardens." The

right of the potter over the clay appears as the last

word, not in a selection to privilege on earth, but to

eternal fate hereafter. And the objection is to be

silenced with the language of the Apostle," Who art

thou that repliest against God?" 3 Thus no one is

justified for his merits, nor hardened without deservingit. And there is no unrighteousness with God.As for Pelagius himself, Augustine says,

4 that he

appears to have pronounced an anathema at the

episcopal trial in Palestine against those who held that

the sin of Adam only injured himself and not the humanrace. He also anathematised the assertion that infants

dying unbaptised obtained eternal life. He could not

escape being condemned unless he had done this. Butin that case, what is the inference ? Clearly no one is

condemned without sin. Clearly also infants have noactual sin of their own. Consequently it must be origi-nal sin which is the cause of their exclusion. Grantthe premises, and it is all extremely logical.The propositions which Pelagius was compelled to

anathematise in the Council in Palestine 5 included the

following :

That Adam would have died in any case, whetherhe sinned or not

;

That Adam's sin injured himself only and not the

human race;

1 Letter 186, 16. 2 Letter 1 86, 17.3 Letter 186, 20. 4 Letter 186, 27.6 Letter 186, 32.


That infants are now born in the same condition as

A clam before his fall;

That it is not true that in Adam all die nor that in

Christ's Resurrection all rise;

That infants dying unbaptised have eternal life;

That Grace is not given to aid us in separate acts,

but consists in free will or instruction or doctrine.

That Grace is given according to merits.

Accordingly those who accept the anathemas of Pelagiusl

are committed to the contraries of their propositions ;

in other words, to the faith of the Catholic Church.

Augustine proceeds, therefore, to formulate the contrary

propositions.But in spite of admissions made before the Palestine

Synod,2 in order to escape being condemned, Pelagius

had in subsequent writings spoken in terms which

virtually left no room for grace in the Catholic sense

of it. He *had not hesitated, for instance, to say that

we could do by free will what we could do more easily

by grace. It was that word "more easily" which

Augustine resisted with all his force. To say that wecan do right more easily by grace is to say that we cando right without grace : which is absolutely unapostolic

3

The Apostolic doctrine is,"

I, yet not I, but the graceof God which was with me." The Scriptural principle

is,"Except the Lord build the house, their labour is

but lost that build it." It is not that it is harder for

them to build it, but simply that without grace their

efforts to build it are in vain.

So Augustine condenses the whole subject into oneof his strongest utterances.

Human nature, even if it had remained in the integrityin which it was created,

4 could no way serve its Creatorwithout His aid. If, then, without the grace of God it

1 Letter 186, 33.2 Letter 186, 34.

*Letter 186, 36.

4 Letter 186, 37.


could not keep what it had received, how could it

without God's grace restore what it had lost?

Augustine supports his own conclusion with a passageborrowed from one of Paulinus's own letters :

J a passage

thoroughly congenial to Augustine's whole mind and

experience, expressing the conflicts in human weaknessand the powerlessness of unaided beings to achieve

their destiny."

I am ashamed to describe what I am.I dare not describe what I am not. I hate what T am,and I am not what I love."

Concerning the origin of the soul Christian thoughtwas greatly exercised at the beginning of the fifth

century. Bishop Optatus had been writing letters about

it. They were not addressed to Augustine, but he hadread them. He sends Bishop Optatus a reply.

2 He is

away from Hippo at the Mauritanian city of Caesarea,

whither he has been sent on some mission by PopeZosimus.

Augustine assures Bishop Optatus that he has never

ventured to express a definite decision on the question,whether at every birth a soul is created or is transmitted

like the body. After all, if the origin of the soul is

unknown, there is no danger so long as redemption is

understood. What he knows on Apostolic authorityis that in Adam all die, and that no one is delivered

except through Christ. Just men were saved before

Christ came 3through their belief in His coming. Thus

S. Peter speaking of the yoke" which neither our fathers

nor we were able to bear," goes on to say," but we

believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the

Lord Jesus, in like manner as they" (Acts xv. 10, n).The true worshippers of God, whether before the Incar-

nation, or since the Incarnation, lived or live only byfaith in the Incarnation of Christ in Whom is the fullness

of grace.4

1 Letter 186, 40.2 Letter 190, A.D. 418.

3 Letter 190, 6.4 Letter 190, 8.


Augustine thereupon is led to discuss the doctrine ofPiedestination: 1 he applies the principle alike to thelost and to the saved.

Then he reaches the problem of the Origin of theSoul.2

Bishop Optatus had clearly taught the Creationist

theory. Augustine asks him how that theory can bereconciled with the need of redemption on the part ofinfants? If the soul of the infant is newly created, howcan it be affected by Original Sin ? And if it is notso affected, how can it require to be redeemed ? If

Optatus can explain this, Augustine would be gratefulfor the information.

Traducianism is readily reconciled with the doctrineof Original Sin. Creationism is not. That is what

Augustine feels. But he will not dogmatise.What he is certain must be rejected is the opinion of

Tertullian,3 which materialises the soul by regarding it

as a product of the body, and makes God the Creator

only of the latter.

Elsewhere Augustine says that for Tertullian the

incorporeal was the unreal. He was, therefore, com-

pelled to think the soul to be corporeal. Otherwise it

seemed to evaporate into nothingness. For the samereason he ascribed body to the Deity, although his

acuteness could not fail to see that this involved him in

difficulties. 4

But as to the soul's origin Augustine confesses that

he cannot decide. 5 No man should be ashamed to

confess his ignorance of what he does not know, lest

while he falsely professes knowledge he never deserves

to know. When a matter in its very nature difficult

surpasses our capacities, and Scripture assists us with

nothing plain, it is only presumption if we attempt to

define. Nothing conclusive about the origin of the soul 6

1 Letter 190, 9.2 Letter 190, 13.

3 Letter 190, 14 (cf. Tertull. cont. Praxeam 7).4 De Genesi ad Litteram X. 41. Works, III. 437.5 Letter 190, 16. 6 Letter 190, 17.

L


can be found in Scripture.1 When Adam said,

" This is

bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh," he did not add," and soul of my soul."

Optatus mentions in his letter a book which he has

written on the subject.2

Augustine would be glad to

see it. A very learned man across the sea, he meansS. Jerome, referred people to Augustine on this problem.

Jerome inclined to the Traducianist theory, and affirmed

that the Western Church was accustomed to take that

view. This was why Augustine wrote to Jerome.Augustine is cautious about this book of his.3 It is

the work of an inquirer not of a teacher. He is waitingfor Jerome's reply. Meanwhile he will not define

anything.As to Pelagianism, Augustine warns Optatus of its

insidiousness. It has been condemned by two occu-

pants of the Apostolic See : Pope Innocent and PopeZosimus. Augustine quotes the Papal letters. In their

words the Catholic faith is plain. No Christian maydoubt of it.

But, whether the problem of the soul's origin can besolved or not, what is certain is that it is a creation of

God, and that God is not the author of sin, and that the

Baptism of Infants is not an empty form.

Certainly also the soul of the Mediator contracted

nothing evil by transmission from Adam. Augustineconnects this exemption from original sin with the fact

of the Virgin Birth. (On the Virgin Birth, see Letter 137

among the letters on Paganism, pp. 55, 56.)Here then is Augustine's reply. It does not show the

knowledge which Optatus desires, but it is prompted byprofound regard.

Augustine's vigilance with regard to heretical ten-

dencies was incessant. He seems to know at oncewhere important ecclesiastics begin to vacillate. Sixtus,



priest of the Roman Church, afterwards Pope, is carefully

kept in touch by the Bishop of Hippo,1 who sends him

letters by the acolyte Albinus. Bishop Alypius also

writes to him. Sixtus also writes to Bishop Aurelius

of Carthage by another acolyte named Leo. It is

thought that this Leo was no other than Leo the Great,who succeeded Sixtus as Pope in 440. Augustineencourages Sixtus to defend the doctrine of grace

against its opponents. But Augustine does not conceal

his misgivings. Sixtus has had the reputation of be-

friending heresy. Augustine would rouse him to alert-

ness. Sixtus should realise that there is a suspicioussilence on the part of many persons who cherish the

heresy which they dare not utter. They must be

instructed. It is impossible to know whether they are

recovered unless silence about what is false is converted

into open defence of what is true. Sixtus must realise

the dangers of this taciturnity.A far longer 'letter followed. It extended to forty-

seven paragraphs.2 This letter is sent to Sixtus by

Albinus the acolyte, who brought Augustine the letters

from Rome. Augustine repeats the unfavourable rumourwhich has reached him that Sixtus had befriended the

enemies of Christian grace. On the other hand, hehears that Sixtus has openly anathematised this heresy,and the Roman priest's letter to Aurelius, althoughshort, was against it. Augustine thankfully recognisesthat Sixtus's letters now breathe the faith of the RomanChurch.The Bishop then proceeds to strengthen Sixtus by

a lengthy reply to Pelagian criticisms on the doctrine

of grace.One criticism against the Augustinian theory of Pre-

destination 3 was that in a case where all were equallyat fault, to liberate one and to punish another would be

unjust.


3 Letter 194.. 5.

1 64 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

Augustine's reply is curious. He asks whether it

would be unjust to punish all ? Let us then whomGod has not punished make our thanksgiving.

1 Then

Augustine propounds the tremendous proposition that

if every man were delivered, the just retribution on sin

would not be. realised. If no man weie delivered the

power of grace would not be known.This proposition the Bishop conceived to be justified

by S. Paul's metaphor of the Clay and the Potter. But,like S. Paul, he falls back on the fact of our ignorance.How inscrutable are His judgments, and His ways past

finding out.2Also, he adds, without however reconciling

the statement with his proposition, that "all the ways of

the Lord are mercy and truth."

The Pelagians attempted to solve the problem byasserting that grace is given in response to human merit.

But this contradicts S. Paul's challenge: "Who hathfirst given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto

him again ? For of Him and through Him and unto

Him are all things" (Rom. xi. 35, 36). It contradicts

also the teaching that "we are justified freely by His

grace." It contradicts the very conception of grace.3

For what is grace if it is not freely given, independentlyof merits, apart from human deservings? If grace is

not a gratuitous gift, it is a debt and not graceat all.

Augustine here reminds Sixtus that Pelagius himself

was compelled, verbally at least, to anathematise the

proposition that grace is the reward of merit, in the

Palestinian Synod of Diospolis. Otherwise he could

not have escaped condemnation.The fact is that the Pelagians identify

4grace with

the natural endowments with which we were created.

Let that confusion be absolutely repudiated by Chris-

tians, says Augustine. For the grace which the Apostle

1 Letter 194, 5.2 Letter 194, 6.

3 Letter 194, 7.4 Letter 194, 8.


inculcates is not the gift which made us men, but the

gift which justified us when we were evil men.

Well, then, say the Pelagians, grace means forgivenessof sins. 1 But forgiveness is preceded by merit. Thereis the merit of faith. But faith is itself a gift.

" Accord-

ing as God hath given to every man the measure of

faith" (Rom. xii. 3). If God's works are done by men,

they are a product of faith. They cannot be donewithout it. For all which is not of faith is sin.

Among men who hear the Christian message2by no

means all have faith. Why one believes and another

does not, when both alike hear the same, is among the

inscrutable mysteries. What is clear is, that on whomHe wills He has mercy. It is inscrutable, but not

therefore unjust.Moreover forgiveness is not enough.

3 The Holy Spiritmust inhabit the house which He has cleansed. Andthat Spirit bloweth where it listeth. Moreover, love

towards God is not produced in us by ourselves, but bythe Holy Spirit.The gratuitous character of this gift of faith is shown

in Christ's own statement :

4 " No man can come untoMe except the Father Who hath sent Me draw him"

(cf. John vi. 44 and 65).It is then impossible to account for any gifts of grace

by preceding merit on the part of the recipient.5

Augus-tine is never weary of asking,

" What hast thou that thoudidst not receive?" (i Cor. iv. 7).

If men say that faith preceded grace, then we mustask what merit preceded the gift of faith ?

If men say that prayer preceded grace,6 and that

prayer has merit, then we must reply that our prayer is

worthless unless accompanied by the Spirit. "It is not

ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speakethin you

"(Matt. x. 20). Augustine explains that this

1 Letter 194, 9.2 Letter 194, 10.

3 Letter 194, II. 4 Letter 194, 12.5 Letter 194, 14.

6 Letter 194, 16.


does not mean that we do nothing. It expresses the

co-operation of the Spirit with our prayers, so that Heis said to do what He enables us to do.

Thus there is all the difference between the man in

whom 1 the Spirit does not dwell, and the man in whomHe does dwell. The former he enables to becomefaithful, the latter to continue faithful.

Thus there is no merit in man prior to grace. Graceis the creative cause of all human deserving. Accord-

ingly Augustine sums up the doctrine of grace in the

celebrated sentence," When God crowns our merits He

will crown nothing else than His own gifts."2

Augustine is well aware that in response to all this

argument the Pelagian will say :

3Well, then, if we do

ill, it is no fault of ours. For we have not been grantedgrace.

Augustine cannot tolerate this excuse. We cannot

escape responsibility. Men might know much more

concerning God than they are inclined to know. S. Paul

says that they are without excuse (Rom. i. 20). Menhave no ground to say, We have not heard and there-

fore we have not believed. Ignorance on the part of

those who do not desire to know is unquestionably sin :

4

on the part of those who cannot know it is a consequenceof sin. Neither have any excuse. Their condemnationis just.

What Sixtus thought of this awful severity we are left

to imagine. But when Sixtus is represented as a half-

hearted defender of the doctrine of grace5 we must not

forget the form in which Augustine presented that

doctrine to him. It is possible to be perfectly orthodoxin the Church's doctrine of grace without assenting to

the Augustinian deductions.

Augustine proceeds to support his conclusions 6 fromthe case of infants dying unbaptised. Here he considers

1 Letter 194, 18. - Letter 194, 19.3 Letter 194, 22. * Letter 194, 27.5

e.g. by Duchesne. 6 Letter 194, 31.


the Pelagian theory of merit is shattered to pieces.There can be no merit in infancy. Now, according to

Augustine, the teaching of Scripture and the faith of the

Church 1 concur that there is no admission for infants into

the Kingdom if they die unbaptised. From this positionthe great writer saw no possible escape. He descantson the strange anomalies involved. But what it provesto. his mind is that God is no accepter of persons, andthat grace is not the reward of antecedent merits.

He can only repeat once more that God's ways are

inscrutable.

Then Augustine identifies selection to privileges onearth (as in the case ofJacob and Esau) with determinationof eternal destinies.2

The Pelagian solution of this problem was just as

desperate.3

They did not deny the exclusion fromHeaven of infants dying unbaptised. But they hazardedthe proposition that they were allowed to die and so

remain excluded because God foresaw the evil they wouldcommit if He allowed them to live.

To which Augustine made the inevitable retort :

4 Whyin that case does not God kill off all infants who are

baptised and live to turn out badly ?

Augustine's position in the controversy was recognised

by the chiefs of the State as well as of the Church.The Emperors Honorius and Theodosius sent a copy

of their decree 5against Pelagians to Aurelius, Bishop of

Carthage, and to Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.Augustine's letter to the priest Sixtus led to difficulties.

It was appreciated by its recipient, but it caused per-

plexity to others. It happened that Florus, one of the

monks of Adrumetum, was on a visit to Uzala, his native

place, where Augustine's friend Evodius was Bishop.And there, probably in Evodius's possession, Florus

found a copy of Augustine's letter to Sixtus. Florus

1 Letter 194, 32.2 Letter 194, 34.

3 Letter 194, 41,4 Letter 194, 42.

5 Letter 201.


transcribed it, and sent his transcription to the Monasteryat Adrumetum, where it created much trouble. If Pelagiusinsisted on human freedom to the exclusion of grace, it

was possible on the other side to lay such emphasis on

grace that no room was left for the freedom of the

human will. This was the conclusion drawn by certain

monks at Adrumetum. It seemed to them that the

doctrine of grace involved a denial that the will was free.

Apparently grace did everything. Man was reduced to

a mere instrument under Divine activity. The monkswho held this view were in the minority. The majorityheld that the will was assisted by grace, and distinguishedbetween being assisted and being coerced. But the

peace of the Monastery was broken by the difficult

propositions contained in Augustine's letter to Sixtus.

News of this dispute in the Monastery of Adrumetumwas brought to Augustine by Cresconius and Felix, twomonks of that community. His letter to Sixtus hadbeen misunderstood. 1

Augustine, therefore, sent a letter

to the Abbot Valentinus and his monks explainingthat the true doctrine was neither with those wholaid exclusve stress on free will nor with those who laid

exclusive stress on grace.

Taking the fact that Christ did not come to condemnthe world but to save it (John iii. 17), Augustine asks," How could the world be saved if there is no such

thing as grace ?" and " How could it be judged if there is

no such thing as free will ?"

He explains that his letter to Sixtus, presbyter of the

Roman Church, was designed to refute those who assert

that grace is given according to human merit. That

theory leads a man to glory not in the Lord but in him-self. It is most false. Augustine writes with indignant

emphasis, with deep conviction.

He would like to send various documents 2 to the

Abbot of Adrumetum, but the two monks are in a hurry

1 Letter 214, A.D. 426.2 Letter 214, 5.


to get home by Easter. They have not brought anyletter from their Abbot. But Augustine does not doubttheir genuine character, as they are obviously simple-minded persons.

Augustine has ascertained from conversation with themthat all the trouble arose from a certain individual in the

Community. The Bishop would greatly like to see that

man, and presses the Abbot to send him to Hippo.Either the monk does not understand Augustine's bookor else is misrepresented by others.

Meanwhile, if men cannot understand the relation of

freedom l and grace, let them at any rate believe in the

existence of both.

It would seem that after all, in spite of their desire to

return to Adrumetum for the Easter Festival, the monkswere induced to remain at Hippo.

2 For Augustinewrote again to the Abbot Valentinus explaining that hehas retained them in order to give them further in-

struction in the meaning of the Pelagian disputes. Hesends them a work on grace and free will, which he has

written for their instruction.

The book on Grace and Free Will 3 is an endeavourto set in true proportion human self-determination andDivine aid. Augustine says that he has written muchagainst those who laid the stress so exclusively on the

human will that they left no room for Divine co-oper-ation and grace. But in reaction from this exclusiveness

some have gone to the opposite extreme. They are

defending the doctrine of grace in such a manner as

to leave no room for the freedom of the human will.

Understanding that this latter extreme exists in the

Community (congregation) of Adrumetum, Augustinenow proceeds to balance these two aspects of the truth.

It has now become necessary to insist on the reality of

free will.4 This is implied in every Divine command;

1 Letter 2 1 4, 7.- Letter 2 15, A.D. 426.

3 Works, Tom. X. p. 1232.4 Letter 215, 2.


for command would be meaningless if there were no

power of choice. Human responsibility is everywhereassumed in Scripture. Augustine collects numerous ex-

amples of prohibition. There is a monotonous reiteration

of the words " do not do this or that." He gives a whole

page of instances.

But the strongest insistence on human independenceand self-decision 1 must be balanced by the absolute

necessity of Divine Grace. 2Scripture testimonies to

grace are as obvious as those to free will. Self-control,for example, is a gift of God (Wisd. viii. 21). Christ

pleads for Peter lest his faith should fail.3

, Pelagius,when residing in the province of Palestine, which con-

tains the city of Jerusalem, dared not tell the Bishopthat grace is given according to our merits. For heknew that he could not escape condemnation if he did,that theory being utterly foreign to Catholic doctrine,and hostile to the very nature of the Grace of Christ.

Accordingly he anathematised that proposition. Never-theless he continues to teach it in books which he has

written since that Council. 4 Now Christ taught:" No

man can come to me except it be given him by myFather" (John vi. 66). S. Paul said he was not worthyto be called an apostle

5 because he persecuted the

Church of God. Yet he obtained grace. Not onaccount of his merits but in spite of them.And here Augustine repeats his maxim that when He

gives a human being eternal life6 "God crowns His own

gifts and not man's merits." Our sufficiency is of Godnot of ourselves. 7 S Paul said "

I obtained mercy that

I might be faithful." He did not say"

I obtained mercybecause I had been faithful." His faithfulness was not

the cause of the Divine Mercy but the consequence. Hecould not have been faithful unless it were for that gift

of God. Thus good works are the results of Grace.8

1 Works, Tom. X. p. 1234.2 Ib. p. 1235.

3 Ib. p. 1237.4 Ib. p. 1237.

5 Ib. p. 1239.6 Ib. p. 1241.

7 Ib. p. 1242.8 Ib. p. 1243.


Nothing can be more perverse than the Pelagian1

identification of grace with Divine commands and in-

structions.2 Moral law condemns us because it orders

us to do what it gives us power to fulfil. This is the

constant theme of Augustine's teaching : nowhere

brought out more brilliantly than in the great treatise

on The Spirit and the Letter. He bids the monks of

Adrumetum to study Cyprian's book on the Lord's

Prayer.3 No man of course stood higher in African

Church esteem.

As usual, there is in this treatise of Augustine a

profusion of Scripture references. The profusion of

quotation may seem excessive, because bewildering in

its multiplicity. Selected passages few and more fully

expounded might have been more effective. But the

great writer's mind is full, and his knowledge of Scrip-ture very extensive. Old Testament and New alike are

laid under contribution. Here is one from Ezekiel.4

In xviii. 31 we read "make you a new heart and a new

spirit." There the stress is on the human will. In

xxxvi. 26 we read " a new heart will I give you, and a

new spirit will I put within you." There the stress is onthe Grace of God. Augustine asks,

" Why does He Whosays

' make you a new heart'

say also ' a new heart

will I give you'

? Why does He command if He Him-self will give ? Why does He give if man is to make it

for himself?"

Augustine answers :

" Because God giveswhat He commands when He enables us to do what Hecommands us." Thus Grace and Free Will are set in true

proportion. The passage is a reminder of the famous

saying," Give what Thou commandest and command

what Thou wilt." It is not only a reminder but an

expansion and explanation.But, objected the Pelagian,

5 God would not commandwhat He knew man could not perform. They think

1 Ib. p. 1246.2 Ib. p. 1248.

3 Jb. 1249.4 Ib. p. 1252.

5 Ib. p. 1253.


they have said something very convincing here, replies

Augustine. But the fact is, God commands what Heknows man cannot perform in order to teach us what weare to seek from Him.

All real obedience to God depends on love. 1 Andlove is a gift from Heaven.

Augustine assures Valentinus and the monks of his

Community 2 that a careful study of his book on Graceand Free Will may prevent the rise of further disputes.He sends copies of the letters sent to Pope Innocent of

the Provincial Council of Carthage and the Council of

the Province of Numidia, and by the five Bishops, as well

as the Pope's three replies. Also the letter sent to PopeZosimus and the Pope's reply to the Bishops of the

world. Also there have been decisions passed against

Pelagianism in the Plenary Council of all Africa. [Thiswas held at Carthage in 418 under Aurelius of Carthageand included mqre than 200 Bishops.]He supports the Catholic doctrine of grace against the

Pelagians by appeal to Cyprian on the Lord's Prayer,who explains the petition

" Lead us not into temptation"

to imply a misgiving of the power of the human will.

On receiving these letters Abbot Valentinus replied3

to Augustine in profoundly deferential language, which

scarcely, however, conceals the Superior's annoyancewith his monks. He compares himself to Elijah wrap-ping his face in his mantle when confronted with the

glory of the Lord. He is ashamed of the rusticity of

his brethren. He must confess the facts. Brother Felix

brought back Augustine's letter to Sixtus and without

informing the Abbot had read it to his illiterate com-

panions. Hence all this trouble. The Community was

divided, and the Abbot still kept in ignorance, until

Brother Florus returned from Carthage and informedthe Abbot that he had copied Augustine's letter and

1Works, Tom. X. p. 1254 ff.

2 Letter 215, A.D. 426.3 Letter 216.


sent it to the Monastery by Brother Felix. Thereuponthe Abbot determined to send to Bishop Evodius

asking him to explain Augustine's meaning. TheAbbot feels that good will come out of evil, just as

the doubts of S. Thomas resulted in the more confirm-

ation of the Church. Valentinus sends the originatorof these disputes to Augustine for instruction as the

Bishop had requested. He begs the Bishop to praythat the devil may be expelled from the Community.

In his conversations with the misguided monk Augus-tine ascertained that the controversy in the Monasteryof Adrumetum had developed on further lines. Whenthe Brothers who laid exclusive stress on human free

will were instructed that their theory must be supple-mented by the doctrine of grace, and that it was Godthat worketh in them both to will and to do

; they

replied that, if that was the case, it was unreasonable

to rebuke and correct those who failed to do right.For their failure is not their fault. It is due to the

absence of grace. If God has not yet given the powerto obey His commands there is no sense in correctingwhat is a misfortune but not a sin. All that is reason-

able t do for a person so situated is to pray that the

grace may be given.This perverse inference 1

emanating from the Mon-

astery of Adrumetum led Augustine to write themhis treatise on Correction and Grace.

If it is God that worketh in us both to will and to

do,2 why preach and give instruction? said the inde-

pendent of Adrumetum. Augustine replied, Men mustbe shown what the ideal of conduct is.

Well then, said the monk, instruct us by all means.But you have no right to correct us if we fail to complywith instruction. Failure is due to the fact that wehave not yet received God's Grace. Pray for us, if youlike. But that is all that you can rightly do.3 Whereto

1Works, X. pp. 1281. 2 Id. p. 1284.

J*7,p. 1285.


Augustine answered, You ought to be corrected for

the very reason that you would avoid correction. Youprefer your deformity. Correction should drive youto pray for yourself that grace may be given. Toallow instruction 1 and refuse correction is illogical.If you refuse the latter you might as reasonably refuse

the former also. For since instruction might comedirect from God without human intermediary, as it

did to S. Paul at his conversion, you might refuse to

accept instruction from the Apostle. You might object,He Who instructed you directly is able to instruct us

directly also. We wait for immediate illumination fromHeaven. But no Christian will venture on such a

demand. And if the believer is willing to receive

instruction through men, consistency requires him to

be willing also to receive correction through men.2

Moreover, asked Augustine, will you really ventureto say that you have not received God's Grace ? Themonk shrank from this Divine challenge. He drew a

distinction. I have received faith, he answered, but

not perseverance.3

That distinction led Augustine off at once into

a whole disquisition on the grace to persevere. It led

him into an uncompromising insistence on the formid-

able doctrine of Predestination.

These monks of Adrumetum had probably not the

faintest notion what they were bringing on themselves,and indeed upon the theology of the subsequent period,

by that plea that they had not received the grace of

perseverance.4

Augustine acknowledged the distinction

between grace to begin and grace to persevere. Headmitted that it was to his mind an unfathomable

mystery that God should give regeneration and faith

and love to certain human beings, and yet not givethem grace to persevere unto the end. All he can say

1 Works, X. 8, p. 1286. 2 Ibt 8j p I286>3 Ib. p. 1288. 4 Ib. 1 8, p. 1294.


is that God's ways are past finding out. There is anundeniable distinction between the called and the

chosen. It is a solemn warning against over-confidence

and human arrogance. The Psalmist who sang"

I said

in my prosperity I shall never be moved " was compelledto add :

l

"Thou didst hide thy face from me and I wastroubled." No prudent man who thinks of this will

refuse correction.

Then comes again, and yet more uncompromisinglyasserted, the tremendous doctrine of Predestination.2

There is a certain number of souls predestined to the

Kingdom of God. That number can be neither dimin-

ished nor increased. The strongest use is made here

of Scripture passages. Thus the text " Hold fast that

which thou hast that no man take thy crown "is

represented as implying the existence of a candidate

for salvation whose chance depends on another man'sfailure.

But Augustine is profoundly convinced 3 that there

is no room for assurance of our own salvation. Themoral is,

" Be not high-minded but fear." Who of all

the multitudes of believers can affirm, so long as he is in

this mortal life, that he is among the number of the

predestined : predestined, that is, to life ? This inse-

curity has a real use. It is an incentive to exertion.

Augustine even thinks that sons of perdition are per-mitted to be mingled for a time among those who will

persevere in order to deepen the solemn insecurity of

redemption.4

The practical conclusion is that no sensible man 5

will either utilise the theory of correction as an argumentagainst grace, nor the theory of grace as an argumentagainst correction.

But Augustine cannot allow that the words 6 "Who1Works, X. 24, p. 1300.

2 Ib. 39, p.3 Ib. 40, p. 1311.

4 Ib. p. 1312.5 Ib. 43, p. 1314-

6 Ib. 44, P-


will have all men to be saved" mean that all are

predestined to eternal life. Here as in many other

passages of his writings that great sentence is forced

to agree with his theory of Predestination.

Until quite recently this was all that was knownabout the objections raised to Augustine's doctrine bythe monks of Adrumetum. Recently, however, twoother letters bearing upon the dispute have been dis-

covered by Dom Morin.1 We have seen that AbbotValentinus, being distracted and alarmed by the oppo-sition between his monks and the great leader of African

religious thought, sent a despatch to Augustine'sfriend, Bishop Evodius, to consult him and seek his

advice.

Evodius replied in a letter, first published in 1896,in which he insisted that the writings of the doctors

of the Church must be read "cum pietate non cumcontentione." No one ought to be surprised if there

are problems concerning free will, or grace, or the

Divine determinations, which he does not understand.

Let him believe that God is righteous, and what hecannot understand in the present life let him keep for

the next. By all means let the monks read the greatteachers of the Church : but when they fail to under-

stand let them not instantly begin to reproach. Letthem pray for intelligence. God, says Evodius, gives

grace not according to our merits;whom He wills

He pities by His goodness ;and whom He wills He

hardens by a just judgment. It is, adds the writer,

beyond human comprehension. Meanwhile it wouldbe presumption and pride for us insignificant individuals

to blame the writings of these great men : above all

if we are reluctant to accept the teaching of a Plenary-Council on the matter. That would be a "temeraria

praesumptio"

; thinking it knows what it does not, anddestitute of humility to learn. Those who refuse

1 See Revue Benedictine, 1896, pp. 481-486.


submission to the decrees of the Church deserve expul-sion and anathema.

This was written in 417. It is not remarkable that

it failed to restore the monks to harmony. AbbotValcntinus wrote for help in various directions. Amongothers he appealed to Januarius, a priest.

Januarius's letter was discovered by Dom Morin and

published in 1901. It is a long letter, addressed to

Abbot Valentinus, insisting that the servant of Godshould not strive and must be teachable. Januarius

rejects the proposition that it is for man to take the

initiative and for God to complete. Scripture declares

that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anythingas of ourselves. Let men learn from the Apostles, andcease to contend. S. Paul ascribes both the beginningand the completion of all good works to God. HeWho hath begun a good work in you will perform it.

Those who raise the objection, If all is God's whatthen is ours ? must be answered that we have nothingbut falsehood and sin. Hence the insistence on fear

and trembling in the injunction to work out your ownsalvation, for it is God that worketh in you. Januariusis a thorough disciple of Augustine, and echoes Augus-tine's explanation of the text, "Who will have all mento be saved." It does not really mean "all," but refers

only to all those whom He wills to be saved. WhomHe wills He hardens. It is the Clay and the Potter.

If the monks are able and willing to receive this, let

them receive it. But if they cannot be convinced, let

them humbly believe on the authority of Scripture ;

avoiding contentions, and ceasing to contradict the

truth. Otherwise they will imperil their faith. Thereare many things in the Catholic Faith which must be

objects of faith rather than of comprehension. Whatlearned and distinguished Fathers and Doctors of the

Church have taught in their writings should be rever-

ently regarded and received. The pious reader will

rejoice where he can understand : and where he cannotM


understand will not quarrel, but accept provisionally,until such time as God shall grant him understanding.

Januarius then proceeds to give Abbot Valentinusthe benefit of his confidential advice. In future the

Abbot should be careful to see what books are givento monks of limited intelligence. Their reading oughtto be determined in future by the Abbot's authority.Indiscriminate study of a codex or a book by the

unqualified is certain to lead to difficulties. Let anyof the Community read the Scriptures freely. Thecaution given applies only to other books.

Januarius has one further piece of advice to give.No casual visitor in future should be allowed to teach

the monks. There were too many people about whodesired to be teachers of the law, yet neither understandwhat they say nor whereof they affirm.

What was the sequel at Adrumetum is unknown.Another letter,

1 addressed to Vitalis of Carthage,contains one of the clearest summaries of Catholic

principles concerning the doctrine of grace to be foundin Augustine's writings. Vitalis had been teachingthat the first beginnings of faith originate in ourselves

and are not a gift of God. Augustine contends that

this proposition is irreconcilable with the Apostolicteaching, that it is God that worketh in you both to

will and to do (Phil. ii. 13). Vitalis understood this to

refer to Divine instruction, directing and informing us

what we ought to do.

According to this identification of grace with instruc-

tion,2

replies Augustine, we ought not to pray that

people may believe the Gospel, but only that they mayhear it. But this is contrary to the practice of the

Church. You hear God's priest at the Altar ("sacer-dotem Dei ad altare ") exhorting the people to pray that

God would convert to faith those who do not believe.

Pelagianism supposed itself to be defending the free-

1 Letter 217, A. D. 427.2 Letter 217, 2.


dom of the human will. 1But, says Augustine, we must

not support the freedom of the will by opposing the

source from which it is made free. It is grace by whichwe are liberated from the tendency to sin. To opposegrace is therefore to keep the will enslaved. Instead

of liberum arbitrium we only have arbitrium captivum.It is God alone who delivers us from the power of

darkness. And he that glories must not glory in man,nor in himself, but in the Lord.

The Mediator enters the strong man's house;

2 that

is, the power which holds the human race enslaved, andbinds him. But that is a work of grace and not of nature.

Thus the grace of God is not a synonym for free

will,3 or for instruction, "sicut pelagiana perversitas

desipit." It is power given to the will for separateacts.

" No man cometh unto me, except it is given him

by my Father." 4 Thus what we have to pray for is the

strengthening of the will, the gift to the unbelieving of

power to believe,5 and of perseverance to those who

already believe.

Of course there are problems in the doctrine of grace,6

some of which Augustine confesses himself unable to

solve. Why do some receive grace and persevere for

a time and yet live long enough to fall away, when they

might have been seemingly removed by an early deathbefore evil had changed them ? Let each investigate

according to his capacity. If he finds the solution

Augustine will hold it with him, provided it does not

deviate from the rule of faith. But whatever happenslet us hold the Catholic Faith.

Since, then, by the mercy of Christ we are Catholic

Christians, says Augustine,7 we know the following

propositions to be true. He proceeds to enumeratetwelve in reply to Pelagianism.

1 Letter 217, 8. 2 Letter 217, n3 Letter 217, 12. 4 Letter 217, 13.5 Letter 217, 14.

6 Letter 217, 15.7 Letter 217, 16.

i8o THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

1. We know t^at our condition here does not dependon merits acquired in a previous existence, but that therace has contracted the contagium mortis, and can onlybe saved by being born again by grace in Christ.

2. We know that the grace of God is not given, either

to infants or to adults, according to merit.

3. We know that grace is given to aid us in individualactions.

4. We know that grace is not given to all;that where

it is given it is not given according to the merits or thewill of the recipient. Witness the case of infants.

5. We know that grace is given by the gratuitousmercy of God.

6. We know that when grace is withheld, it is with-

held by the just judgment of God.

7. We know that we shall all stand before the judg-ment seat of Christ, to be judged according to the deeds

actually committed in the body, and not according to

deeds which we should have committed if our lives hadbeen prolonged.

8. We know that even infants will receive accordingto what they have done through the body, whether

good or evil. But this cannot apply to their personalactions, but to the faith of their sponsors who promisedin their behalf, and through whom they are included

amjng the believing. But this must apply, accordingto Augustine, negatively as well as positively. The

unbaptised are the unbelieving. And he that believeth

not is condemned.

9. We know that they are happy who die in the

Lord.10. We know that they who sincerely believe in the

Lord do so by their own will and free choice.

11. We know that we do rightly to pray for the

conversion of those who do not believe.

12. We know that it is right to thank God for those

who believe.


If Vitalis assents to- these twelve propositions he will

be holding the Catholic Faith concerning Grace.

But Augustine feels that his Predestinarianism will

present difficulties to his correspondent. There is the

text that God will have all men to be saved (i Tim.ii. 4). Augustine labours to make this agree with the

Predestination of the elect alone. 1 He takes the wordsto mean that all men who are saved are saved becauseGod wills their salvation. Yet, in Augustine's view,God wills that many shall not be saved (" tarn multosnolit salvos fieri").

There is very much more in this important letter.2

The Conversion of S. Paul is appealed to as a supremeexample of grace producing faith. Stress is laid onthe words " and they glorified God in me." That wasthe Church's recognition of the power of grace.

Again Augustine insists 3 on the evidence of the

Church's prayers for the conversion of the unbelieving.

Incidentally he not only speaks of hearing God's priestat His Altar exhorting the people to pray, but speaksof the priest praying audibly (" clara voce orantem ") that

God would bring the incredulous to believe. Augustinementions also the response of the people, their Amento the priest's petitions. The fifth-century Eucharistic

Prayers were audible to the congregation.As the closing years of Augustine's dogmatic activity

set in complaints increased concerning his extremePredestinarian opinions. The opposition came fromhis own adherents and disciples, who revolted from his

later conclusions. The difficulties presented by the

Augustinian view were felt profoundly in the Gallican

Church and in particular at Marseilles.4 Two of Augus-tine's devoted followers, Prosper of Aquitaine and Hilaryof Aries, both wrote to Augustine on the difficulties felt

by Catholics in his theory of Predestination.


3 Letter 217, 26. 4 Letters 225 and 226.


Prosper told Augustine, deferentially but frankly, that

many of the servants of Christ at Marseilles consideredthat his theory of the purpose of God according to

election was contrary to the opinion of the Fathers x

and the mind of the Church. They were willing to

suppose that this criticism of theirs was due to mis-

apprehension on their part rather than to erroneous

teaching on his. But they had lately read his workon Correction and Grace, and the reading of it onlyincreased their objections.

Here follows a profession of the faith of the Churchat Marseilles. They believed that salvation is not byworks but by regeneration through the Grace of God.What they could not credit was that any human beingexists whom God does not will to save. They main-

tained, on the contrary, that the propitiation offered

by Christ is inclusive of every human being, and that

whosoever willed to come to faith and Baptism was

capable of being saved. Thus they held that no manneed despair of attaining eternal life. The doctrine of

arbitrary election or rejection, the destination of onehuman being to life and another to perdition was, in

their opinion, fatal in its moral effects: for it taughtthat no labour could save the rejected and no indolence

exclude the elected. Thus Augustine's theory of Predes-

tination was nothing less than fatalism and necessity.

They agreed that no one could enter into the Kingdomof God 2

except by the Sacrament of Regeneration, but

they affirmed that if any person was lost, the fault washis own. For God repelled no man from life but de-

sired that all men should be saved and should come to

the knowledge of the truth. As to infants who died

unbaptised, their theory was that this was to be ac-

counted for by the Divine foreknowledge of the godlesslives these children would have led had they beenallowed to mature. The essential point with the Church-

1 Letter 225, 2 2 Letter 225.


men of Marseilles was that God places no obstacle in

the way of the salvation of any man. -

They do notbelieve that the number of the elect can neither bediminished nor increased.

Prosper confesses that he is not able to solve their

difficulties. Many of the persons holding these opinionsare more spiritual than himself. Some are his ecclesi-

astical superiors.

Prosper's letter was supported by another from Hilary,1

much to the same effect; only adding quotations from

Augustine's own letter written some twenty years before

in reply to Pagan criticism on the Christian Religion(see Letter 102). Augustine had there maintained that

Christ willed to appear to men and His doctrine to be

proclaimed when and where He knew that men wouldbelieve in Him. Elsewhere, again, Augustine had

taught that God decreed to give the Holy Spirit to

those who, He foresaw, would believe (Exposition of

Romans).Hilary informed Augustine that a quotation which

the Bishop had made from the Book of Wisdom wasset aside by the Churchmen at Marseilles on the groundthat this writing is not among the number of the

canonical books.2

Augustine was further reminded that in one of his

very early writings3(that on Free Will) he had expressed

himself with caution and uncertainty with regard to the

fate of infants. These things could not but have their

effect on that considerable element of believers who are

led to change their opinions by the authority of dis-

tinguished names. Catholics in the Gallican Churchwere complaining that Augustine had disturbed the*

peace of the Church. What possible need could exist

for unsettling the minds of swarms of simple peopleby intruding these doubtful disputations. The Catholic

Faith had been defended without these theories for

1 Letter 226. 'Ibid. 3 Letter 226, 8.


many years, by many writers : in fact, by Augustinehimself.

Hilary lays these considerations before the Bishopof Hippo. Hilary is evidently impressed by the extentand the strength of the opposition to Augustine'stheories. Augustine will know what is the propercourse to take. Meanwhile he asks for some moreof Augustine's writings, copies of which have not yetreached him. He is anxious that Augustine should not

suppose that he identifies himself with these critics.

He is simply a reporter of their criticisms.

The sequel is not to be found among Augustine'sletters, but in the Treatises on The Predestination of the

Saints, and on The Gift of Perseverance.

CHAPTER VI

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION

THE successor to S. Ambrose at Milan was the priest

Simplician. Readers of Augustine's Confessions will

remember that he is mentioned there.1Augustine

corresponded with him from Africa,2 and wrote to him

in 397, which was the year of Ambrose's death. Simpli-cian was not a man of great learning but of deepspirituality. Simplician sought instruction from Augus-tine, who wrote a treatise in reply to his questions.And Augustine on his side highly valued Simplician's

approval of his works;and even expressed his esteem

in terms not a little embarrassing to Simplician's

humility :

" When what I write pleases you, I knowto Whom it is pleasing : for I know Who it is Whodwells within you."

Quite a number of Augustine's correspondents treat

him as if he were a man of leisure with no occupation

except to answer their inquiries. They did not hesitate

to send him strings of questions, any one of which

required almost a treatise for an answer.3 A certain

person named Honoratus, not yet baptised, asked

Augustine to reply to the following five questions. Hewanted to know, first, What was the meaning of the cryfrom the Cross. Secondly, What S. Paul meant whenhe wrote "that he being rooted and grounded in love

may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the

length and breadth and height and depth." Thirdly,

1Confessions, VIII. i, 3 ; cf. De Civitate Dei, X. 29.

2 Letter 37.3 Letter 140, A.D. 412.

185


he wanted an explanation of the parable of the Wise andFoolish Virgins. Fourthly, he asked to be told whatwas meant by the outer darkness. Fifthly, he inquiredhow are we to understand the text " The Word wasmade flesh." To these is added a sixth question, Whatis in the New Testament signified by Grace?

Augustine with exemplary patience replied to all

these inquiries, and at very considerable length. Hisletter became a treatise. Paragraph after paragraphflowed on until the number of sections reached the

figure of eighty-five. The letter to Honoratus is a book in

itself. It is entitled On the Grace of the New Testament.

i. Augustine takes first the question on the preludeto the Gospel of S. John,

1 and gives a lengthy exposi-tion. Incidentally he explains that " born of a woman "

does not imply the Virgin Birth. Dwelling on the

distinction between S. John Baptist and Christ he sets

together Christ's words about him, that he was a burningand a shining light, and the Fourth Evangelist's words," he was not that light." The Baptist was a lucerna, a

lamp ;but a lucerna requires to be kindled and is liable

to be extinguished.2 He was the " lumen illuminatum

"

to be contrasted with the " lumen verum." The difference

between other human beings and Christ as sons of Godlies in the term Adoption.

3 We are made by grace whatwe were not by nature, whereas Christ is essentiallyand naturally God's Son. What the Fourth Evangelistteaches is the personal Word of God made flesh and

dwelling in us. Since the Son of God by participationin the flesh is made Son of Man, faith can credit the

proposition that men may by participation in the Wordbe made sons of Gocl.

We therefore, the changeable, are changed into

something higher by the reception of the Word.4 But*

the Word, being unchangeable, is not deteriorated by

1 Letter 140, 6.2 Letter 140, 8.

3 Letter 140, 10. 4 Letter 140, 12.

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION 187

His reception of the flesh and reasonable soul. Yes,He took a reasonable soul as well as a human body.The Apollinarists are mistaken. And, taking humannature, He subjected Himself to human humiliations.

And here Augustine warns his reader to realise that the

Person Who thus is both God and Man, is one. Other-wise instead of a Trinity you would introduce a

Quaternity. But in the Incarnation there is no increase

in the number of the Persons. " For just as there is noincrease in the number of persons when the flesh is

united to the soul to make one man, so neither is the

number of persons increased when man is united with

the Word, to make one Christ." l

2. This leads Augustine to consider 2 the meaning of

the cry from the Cross. In a very interesting exposi-tion he reminds Honoratus of a passage in Psalm Ixxii.,

where the singer confesses that problems were insolu-

ble until he went into the Sanctuary of God;

that

is, until they were viewed under the guidance of thq

enlightenment bestowed by the Spirit.This cry of desolation from the Cross 3 " My God, my

God, why hast thou forsaken me? "is to be understood

as Christ in self-identity with mankind, giving utterance

to the Voice of our infirmities. For the old man wascrucified together with Him, and He bore our griefsand carried our sorrows. It is Christ representing the

Church. 4Just as afterwards He identifies Himself with

the suffering inflicted on His Church, when He said :

"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me ?"

Augustine further claims that the opening words of

Psalm xxii., which our Lord uttered upon the Cross, are

not to be separated from the whole contents of the

Psalm. The Bishop feels that part of the Psalm is

literally appropriate to Christ, and part of it is not. 5


4 Hsec ex persona sui corporis Christus dicit, quod est Ecclesia.

Letter 140, 18.5 Letter 140, 31.


Hence he allegorises much, and applies to Christ as

representing the Church what seemed to be inappropriateas applied to Christ in person. Thus the verses

25 and 26,1

" My praise is of Thee in the great congregation :

My vows will I perform in the sight of them that

fear Him.The poor shall eat and be satisfied :

"

is in Augustine's view a reference, first, to the Sacrifice

of the Body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Faithful;

and secondly, to Eucharist reception.

3. The outer darkness may be understood in twosenses. 2 It is the present condition of souls which havenot yet received light and grace. But this is a state

which may be reversed. Outer darkness may signifyalso the final exclusion ubi correctionis locus non erit.

God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. But he

that hateth his brother is in darkness.

4. The passage in Ephesians on the length andbreadth and height and depth is mystically explained

by Augustine by reference to the dimensions of the

Cross.3

5. Here follows an exposition4 of the parable of the

Wise and Foolish Virgins. It is an illustration of the

changeful human soul which can only find its blessedness

in the unchanging good ; and which cannot be healed

by itself, but only by the unmerited mercy of its Creator.

The answer," Go ye rather to those that sell, and buy for

yourselves," is derisive. The lamps lighted signify goodworks : as when the Lord said

" Let your light so shine

before men." 5 The lamps gone out signify failure to

persevere.6 The sleep, which wise and foolish alike

experienced, is death. The awakening in the night is

the Resurrection.


4 Letter 140, 74.5 Letter 140, 75.

6 Letter 140, 76.

LETTERS ONf BIBLICAL EXPOSITION 189

6. To these Augustine himself adds finally the

question concerning the Grace of the New Testament.It is that which comes to us through the Incarnation

and gives us power to become sons of God. He wouldwish to say much on this. For this Grace has its

opponents, who desire to ascribe their goodness to

themselves and not to God.1Augustine mentions no

names. But he acknowledges the excellence of the

people Who oppose the doctrine of Grace. They are

not persons whom you will easily despise. They live a

life of self-restraint. They are praiseworthy for their

good works. They are orthodox on the doctrine of

the Godhead : quite unlike the Manichaeans. But theyare ignorant of the Divine righteousness, and they seek

to establish their own. They are foolish virgins. Theydo not carry the knowledge of the Grace of God in their

hearts. They do not know Whose gift their self-

restraint really is. They do not give thanks for it.

Their foolish heart is darkened. But they are by nomeans to be despaired of so lorrg as their life may last.

Paulinus, Bishop of Nola,2 asked a series of questions

on Biblical exposition. In this case both sides of the

correspondence are preserved. The questions are partlyon passages in the Psalms. (i) For instance, the

passage which is rendered in our Authorised Version,"Slay them not, lest my people forget it

;

But scatter them abroad among the people, and putthem down, O Lord our defence,"

is regarded by Paulinus as addressed by Jesus Christ

to the Father in reference to the Jews. Paulinus sawthe fulfilment of the passage in the dispersion of the

Jews, without temple and without sacrifice, among all

the nations of the earth. But he has misgivings aboutthe text, for his Version reads :

"Slay them not lest they should forget Thy law."


IQO THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

And this seems to him unintelligible. (2) Paulinus

also desired Augustine to define the difference between

Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers,mentioned in Eph. iv. II (p. 533). (3) Also to betold the difference between the prayers called inter-

cessions in i Tim. ii. I, and other kinds of prayer(P- 534)- (4) Also to know the meaning of the difficult

passage in Col. ii. 18, about voluntary humility -and

worshipping of angels (p. 535). (5) Also concerningthe words of Simeon to the Blessed Virgin Mary :

" A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also,

that the thought of many hearts may be revealed."

Did this refer to Mary's maternal grief when she sawthe Crucifixion ?

These were among the questions which the Bishopof Nola propounded to Augustine. Paulinus's letter

is believed to have been written about A.D. 410.

Augustine's reply is dated apparently four years later,

if the Benedictine editors are right.1

Augustine'sletters familiarise us with late arrivals, with missingdocuments, and interrupted correspondence. But this

is one of the worst examples.Augustine replies to the whole number of Paulinus's

inquiries. We follow here only the selected instances.

He calls Paulinus his fellow-bishop, describes anotherof the clergy as his fellow-presbyter, and yet anotheras his fellow-deacon.

1. The passage in the Psalms, "Slay them not, lest

they forget Thy law," Augustine understands as a

prediction that the Jews when conquered and dispersedwould continue in their ancient law, so that the witness

of the Scripture should remain among them everywherein the world. Elsewhere Augustine calls the Jews the

librarians of the Church;as retaining the books which

the Church alone fulfils.

2. On the list of ministries in Eph. iv., Augustine

1 Letter 149.


thinks that Pastors and Teachers do not denotedifferent offices, but are synonymous.

3. He has much to say on the different kinds of

prayer, especially as intercessions. He notes that the

Greek word svrev^si^ which we translate intercessions,is variously rendered in the Latin version by interpellareor postulare. Our Lord makes intercession for us

(Rom. viii. 34). Augustine understood this to mean

making requests to the Father.

S. Paul's order is supplications, prayers, intercessions,

thanksgivings. Augustine thinks that "supplications

"

is the right name for those prayers which precede the

Consecration in the Eucharist;

while " the prayers"

is the right name when the Consecration is effected

and the distribution takes place. That this is the right

meaning of the term "prayers" is, he thinks, impliedin the Greek word used. For the word nooosv^denotes a vow or dedication. Now all things offered

to God are dedicated to Him, above all the Oblationof the Holy Altar. In that sacrament our self-dedica-

tion is proclaimed, when we vow to remain in Christ,that is in the bond of the Body of Christ. TheEucharist is the Sacrament of the Union. For the

Bread is One, and we being many are one Body.1

Then the interpolations or intercessions or requestsare made when the people are blessed. For then the

priests act as advocates.

Finally the thanksgivings are the prayers whichfollow when the Sacrament has been received.

4. Then as to the different passages in Colossians

on voluntary humility. Augustine illustrates the termfrom a number of popular Latin expressions. Aperson who aims at being considered wealthy is called

thelodives ; one whose ambition is to be reputed wise

is called thelosapiens . According to these analogies, a

person of voluntary humility or thelohumilis? is the

1 Letter 149, 16. 2 Letter 149, 27.


person who simulates humility, who desires to be re-

garded as humble-minded. There is in the term the

notion of unreality and pretentiousness.

5. On the words of Simeon to Mary, Augustine agreeswith Paulinus, and encloses another letter which hehad written on the subject, but which unhappily hasnot survived. Hut the phrase that the thoughts of

many hearts may be revealed, means that by the

Passion of our Lord both the motives of the Jewsand the weakness of the Apostles would be broughtto light.

Evodius was one of Augustine's intimate friends.

They grew up together at Thagaste. Evodius becamea convert and was baptised at an earlier date than

Augustine. The two were together in the villa outside

Milan. 1 Both started on the return journey to Africa,and Evodius was present at Ostia when Monica died.

It was Evodius who took the Psalter in the house of

mourning, while all responded:2

" My song shall be of mercy and judgment :

Unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing."3

Back in Africa, Evodius was ordained and became a

bishop. His See was Uzala. The two friends keptup a correspondence, of which part survives. But manyyears had elapsed. It was now the year 414.

Bishop Evodius tells his friend Augustine about the

death of a young private secretary, a deeply religious

youth, a son of a certain priest ;

4 how he died justafter signing himself with the sign of the Cross

;how

they held memorial services for three days at the grave,and on the third day offered the Sacrament of

Redemption. Evodius then relates various dreams of

devout persons concerning the welfare of the departed.These incidents raised various problems in the writer's

1Confessions, IX. 17.

2 Psalm ci.3

Confessions, IX. 31.4 Letter 158, A.D. 414.


mind. 1 He wants to know whether the soul when it

leaves the earthly body continues in a disembodiedstate until the Resurrection, or is meanwhile clothedwith a body of some kind. He seems to think thata disembodied soul could not retain its individuality.If the soul resides in some distinct locality, such as

Abraham's bosom, it must be embodied. 2 He wantsto know why the soul separated from the earthly solid

frame should not possess a body of its own.Evodius had read in an apocryphal book called the

Mysteries of Moses, to which however he assigns no

authority, that when the Lawgiver ascended the Mountto die, his body was committed to the earth but another

body was granted him. Evodius considers that this

idea is confirmed by the visible appearance of Mosesat the Transfiguration. -The future Resurrection of the

body does not exclude the possibility of some inter-

mediate body. But what the soul's condition is Evodiusdesires to be instructed.3 What he revolts against is

the notion that death is a dreamless sleep.

Pursuing the subject further, Evodius asks whether,if the soul possesses after death and before Resurrection

a body such as he imagines, that body possesses the

same senses as we have here. Evodius is willing to

part with all except hearing and sight.He thinks that to exist apart from body of some

kind 4is a Divine prerogative which cannot be shared

by men.To these inquiries of his

" beloved brother and sharer

in the priestly office," Augustine replied5 that he sees

.

no reason to believe that the soul departing from this

earthly body receives another body in the other world

before the Resurrection.

As to the visions of the departed or the absent

Augustine is sure that they are independent of any1 Letter 158, 4 and 5.

2 Letter 158, 6.3 Letter 158, 7.

4 Letter 158, n.5 Letter 159, A.D. 415.

N


embodied manifestation of the object seen. 1 Thus

Augustine while writing to Evodius contemplates in

mental vision a very definite image of his friend which,

however, is not created by Evodius's presence, and of

which Evodius is not even aware. This would applyto visions of the departed. Augustine here refers his

correspondent to his books on Genesis where this

subject is carefully considered.

In the present reply to Evodius, Augustine adds an

example to illustrate the facts of mental vision apartfrom the physical vision through the senses of the

body.2 There was a well-known physician named

Gennadius, formerly resident in Rome, and now in

Carthage, who in early life had doubted the soul's

survival of physical death. But one night he had a

vision in which a stranger led him where he saw the

heavenly city and heard the hymn of the blessed. Heawoke, and regarded it only as a dream.3 But another

night he saw his heavenly guide again. He wasconscious that his bodily eyes were closed in sleep.And yet he saw the heavenly vision. He was accord-

ingly taught that when the bodily eyes shall be

dispensed with after death, the power of mental vision

still remains.

Evodius wrote again to Augustine.4 His mind is

much exercised on the relation between Reason and God.Reason declares that God ought to exist. SimilarlyReason declares that the world must exist. Reasontherefore is prior to the world. Reason thus appearsas an abstraction which is followed by the actualisation

of what it postulates. Evodius is therefore puzzled to

know whether Reason is prior to Deity. God wouldnot exist unless Reason existed which taught that Godought to be. Neither would Reason exist unless Godexisted. God cannot be without Reason nor Reasonwithout God.

1 Letter 159, 2. 2 Letter 159, 3-3 Letter 159, 4.

4 Letter 160, A.D. 414.


Here is Evodius's perplexity, which without moreado he leaves Augustine to solve.

Apparently without waiting for a reply, Evodiuswrote again.

1 He has been reading some letters which

Augustine had written to Volusian (Letter 137), andto a lady named Italica (Letter 92). The letter to

Italica was written about A.D. 408. That to Volusianin 412. It was now A.D. 414. Volusian had been

perplexed about the Incarnation, and about the VirginBirth. In the course of his reply Augustine had written

the sentence,"If an explanation is sought, there will

be no miracle;

if an example is demanded, there will

be no uniqueness." Evodius does not see the reason of

this remark. He thinks it will still be miraculous if a

reason has been sought, and if an example is demanded;

it will still be unique. He means that an illustration

will not be exactly parallel with that which it illus-

trates. He gives examples of parthenogenesis in the

inferior orders of creation. He thinks that Augustine'sassertion may rather hinder than help the inquirer about

the Faith.

To these criticisms Augustine sent a reply2 with a

sense of grave responsibility. For his letter will not

only be read by intelligent friends like Evcdius, but

also by less educated people, and by unfriendly critics.

What care such conditions demand ! Now he is already

fully occupied with other literary labours. Are these

to be put aside in favour of the newly arrived letter?

If so, is the newcomer in its turn to be set aside in

favour of some still later arrival?

Many of Evodius's questions are already answeredin works which Augustine has written, but not yet

published, whether on the Trinity or on Genesis.

Augustine also" reminds Evodius of their discussions,

doubtless those held in the villa outside Milan, on the

quantity of the Soul, and the Freedom of the Will :



discussions embodied in Augustine's earlier works.

Then, again, Evodius has the book on True Religion.If Evodius will read that book and reflect upon it, hewill certainly not regard Reason as prior to Deity.

Evodius can hardly have forgotten his discussions

with Augustine outside Milan in which he took so

important a part. The whole book on The Freedom ofthe Will is nothing else than a dialogue betweenEvodius and Augustine.The substance of this dialogue dates from many

years before. It was held in 388. In the course of it

there is a discussion on the grounds of belief in the

existence of God. 1 All being is classified in an as-

cending scale of value: that which exists, that which

lives, and that which has intelligence. Augustine asks

Evodius in the dialogue whether he will give the nameof God to that which is superior to our intelligence.Evodius replies that God must be not only that which is

superior to our intelligence, but that which has no

superior to itself 2(quo nihil superius esse constiterit).

The reader will be reminded of S. Anselm's definition :

God is that than which no greater can be conceived. 3

Augustine proceeds by inquiring whether there is

any object of thought which is not the exclusive posses-sion of this or that individual mind, but the commonproperty of all minds alike : or whether there is sucha thing as objective truth. Evodius replies that

undoubtedly there is :4 and he gives arithmetical

numbers as an illustration. The truths of mathematicsare the same for every mind. They cannot be other

than they are. Seven plus three are ten. Under no

circumstances, nowhere, at no time, can this be other-

wise. It is an immutable, incorruptible truth.

Augustine then asks whether the existence of ob-

jective5 truth holds good in the moral and spiritual

1 De Libero Arbitrio, II. u, p. 961.2 Ibid. 14, p. 964.

3 " Id quo majus cogitari nequit," Proslogion, ii.

* De Libero Arbitrio, 20, p. 967.5 Ibid. 25, p. 970.


spheres. Is there such a thing as Wisdom ? Or does

every individual have a wisdom of his own ? Evodiusis perplexed. The ideals of individual men, their con-

ception of the highest good, differ enormously. It

looks as if the whole thing were reduced, as we say, to

opinion and subjectivity. But, replies Augustine, what-ever individuals pursue they do so under the impressionthat it is good. Thus if they differ in their idea of whatis good, they agree in their idea that such a thing as

good exists. If they differ about the means they agreeabout the end.1 All men aspire to happiness even if

they dispute wherein that happiness consists. Nowthis idea is not the property of the individual but is

common to all. Moreover there are things objectivelytrue in the moral sphere. It is always true that inferior

things are to be subordinated to better;that the eternal

is better than the temporal ;that the mind must be

raised to things incorruptible. These are unchangingtruths. The principles of wisdom are everywhere the

same. We do not say that they ought to be. 2 Wesimply say that they are. Seven plus three are ten.

We cannot say that they ought to be.

Now this immutable truth is greater than the humanmind. For we cannot correct it nor alter it. Andwhat else is this objective Truth and Wisdom if it is

not God ? It is what all can embrace and share. It is

the inspirer of every individual. It transcends the in-

dividual and can become the common possession of the

whole race. This objective, unchanging truth is the

light of all our seeing.3 If there is anything in exist-

ence more excellent than this, that more excellent thingis God. If there is nothing more excellent than Truththen Truth is God.

If Evodius turned to the treatise on Free Will to

which Augustine referred him in his letter, this is the

1 De Libero Arbitrio, II. 28, p. 973.2 Ibid. 34, p. 977.

3 Ibid. 39, p. 981.

i 98 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

substance of the answer given there. Augustine herecontents himself with repeating the statement that wedo not say that seven plus three ought to be ten, but

simply that they are. Reason does not create God, but

only discovers Him.It is not quite so easy to see why Augustine also

referred Evodius to the book on True Religion^As to the criticism which Evodius had sent to

Augustine's remarks on visions, Augustine invites his

critics to reconsider the original letter. When the spiritleaves the body in death it neither takes the eyes of the

body with it nor a body constructed out of the earthly

body. It still possesses the power of sight, but the

sight is not physical.2

Then with regard to Augustine's former statementon the Virgin Birth in the letter to Volusian :

"If an

example is demanded, there will be no uniqueness."Evodius had criticised this on the ground that in-

stances of parthenogenesis could be found in the

inferior orders of Creation. Augustine replies that

Christ alone is Virgin-born : meaning apparently that

there is no parallel within the experience of the humanrace.

3 Then again with regard to Augustine's state-

ment that "if an explanation is sought there will be no

miracle," the writer now adds that everything has its

cause. But when the cause is unknown to us, and the

reason of a thing is concealed, we call it miracle. The

Virgin Birth is a miracle not because it has no explana-tion but because the explanation is concealed from us.

Augustine assures Evodius that a man of his insight

requires no more than these hints. The letter has

already reached a length which suggests that the writer

has forgotten his other occupations. Meanwhile will

Evodius send another copy of a previous letter whichcannot be answered because it has been mislaid.

1 Letter i62, 3.2 Ibid.

3 Letter 162, 7.


Evodius wrote again.1 He desired an explanation of

the passage in i Pet. iii. 18-21, on Christ preaching to

the spirits in prison.

Augustine sent a long and elaborate reply.2

Here,as constantly, the great writer confesses his own un-

certainty. He is himself in much perplexity on the

subject. He would be glad to be instructed. His

difficulty is this.3 If Christ after His Passion went and

preached to spirits in Hell, why were the unbelieving of

the age of Noah the only objects of His Mercy ?

That our Lord descended into hell (apud inferos)

Augustine thinks no one but an infidel will deny.4

As to the souls who were delivered, Augustine would

rejoice to think that 5 Christ emptied hell and that all

without exception were delivered. He thinks sym-pathetically of the great Pagan poets and literary men,

praiseworthy in their lives, noble in many moral ways,faithful in life and true in death, always excepting the

falsity of their religion. Augustine is torn between

conflicting thoughts. His heart goes one way. His

theory of predestination another. He would desire to

see them "free from the powers of hell, were not the

verdict of human feeling different from that of the

justice of the Creator."

Was it, then, not all, but only some of the souls in

hell that Christ delivered ?

Augustine says6 that according to the almost unan-

imous tradition of the Church it was believed that

Adam was delivered. This tradition had great authority

although it could not be supported from any definite

Scripture statement." But seeing that plain scriptural testimonies make

mention 7 of hell and its pains, no reason can be

alleged for believing that He Who is the Saviour went

thither, except that He might save from its pains ;but


3 Letter 164, 2.4 Letter 164, 3.

5 Letter 164, 4.6 Letter 164, 3.

7 Letter 164, 8.


whether He did save all whom He found held in them,or some whom He judged worthy of the favour, I still

ask : that He was, however, in hell, and that He con-

ferred this benefit on persons subjected to those pains, I

do not doubt. Wherefore, I have not yet found whatbenefit He, when He descended into hell, conferred

upon those righteous ones who were in Abraham's

bosom, from whom I see that, so far as regarded the

beatific presence of His Godhead, He never withdrew

Himself; since even on that very day on which Hedied, He promised that the thief should be with Him in

Paradise at the time when He was about to descend to

loose the pains of hell. Most certainly, therefore, Hewas, before that time, both in Paradise and in the

bosom of Abraham in His beatific Wisdom, and in

hell in His condemning power ;for since the Godhead

is confined by no limits, where is He not present ? Atthe same time, however, so far as regarded the created

nature, in assuming which at a certain point of time,

He, while continuing to be God, became man, that is to

say, so far as regarded His soul, He was in hell : this is

plainly declared in those words of Scripture, which wereboth sent before in prophecy and fully expounded byapostolical interpretation :

* Thou wilt not leave mysoul in hell.'" 1

Augustine's critical mind saw further problems in the

exposition of this passage in S. Peter.2 Some interpretersheld that the persons delivered by our Lord's preachingin Hades were those who had never heard the Gospelon earth, and had never been granted an opportunity to

believe. Well then, said Augustine, the same plea is

available for those who since Christ's Resurrection died

without even hearing the Gospel preached.3 But

Augustine was unable to accept this plea for their in-

clusion within Redemption. His arguments are : First

that the possibility of redemption in the other world

1 Letter 164, 8.2 Letter 164, 12. 3 Letter 164, 13.


would lead to indifference to conversion here on earth.

And secondly, that it would be a reason against preach-

ing the Gospel to the Pagan world.

On these grounds Augustine propounds another in-

terpretation.1 The spirits in prison may denote the

unbelieving here on earth. Christ's going to preach to

them may refer to His appeals prior to His incarnation.2

Thus in the time of Noah Christ did virtually preach to

the souls in prison, i.e. send His warnings to the un-converted here on earth. 3 He came to them in the

Spirit although not in the flesh.

Augustine throws this out as possible.4 If this ex-

position does not satisfy, let the reader apply the

passage to an actual preaching of Christ to spirits in

hell. Only let him try to solve Augustine's diffi-

culties.

As for the problem of visions of God by the bodilysenses, it must be deferred for a lengthier discussion.

One of Augustine's correspondents, Dardanus, a highofficial in Gaul, was much exercised in understandingthe word from the Cross :

"To-day shalt thou be with

Me in Paradise." 5 If Christ said He would be in Para-

dise, how can we believe that He is in Heaven ? Doesit mean that Paradise is a part of Heaven ? Or is it a

reference to God's ubiquity ?

To this the Bishop replied in his book on the

Presence of God.

Augustine in reply distinguishes. Christ is either

speaking as Man or else as God.6 If the former, Para-

dise is not to be regarded as part of Heaven, for the

soul of Christ went down to the lower world (inferno).

Paradise, therefore, is situated in the lower world, to

which Christ went in order to deliver those who oughtto be delivered. In the lower world Christ did not

only visit the penal part but also those who were in

1 Letter 164, 15.2 Letter 164, -r6.

3 Letter 164, 17.4 Letter 164, 22.

5 Letter 187, to Dardanus, A.D. 417.6 Letter 187, 5.


Abraham's bosom. It seems to Augustine probable that

Abraham's bosom is a synonym for Paradise.1

If, however, Christ is here speaking as God the

meaning is simpler. For Christ as God is everywhere.Thus He is present with the blessed wherever theymay be. 2

But the Man Christ Jesus is now in Heaven.3 Hishuman nature does not possess ubiquity. In His

humanity He is not everywhere diffused. Care must be

taken while insisting on His Divinity not to detract

from the truth of His humanity. (" Cavendum est enimne ita divinitatem astruamus hominis, ut veritatem

corporis auferamus.")

Augustine also points out the danger of miscon-

ceiving the omnipresence or ubiquity of God. God is,

we say, everywhere diffused. He fills Heaven andearth. But this universal presence must not be under-

stood in a material sense. It is not a case of extension

through space. We cannot say that God is partly-

present in one place and partly in another, like a

material substance. But He is wholly present wherever

He is present. Present in His whole being,4 whether in

earth or in Heaven (in seipso ubique totus).

Nevertheless this universal presence of God is differ-

ent from His indwelling in human souls. For He does

not dwell in all. He is everywhere, by the presence of

His Divinity, but not by the grace of indwelling.5 And

as God does not dwell in all, neither does He dwell

equally in all in whom He ^dwells.6 There are degrees

of Divine indwelling in the human soul.

This Divine indwelling may begin in infancy.7 Thus

we say that the Holy Spirit dwells in baptised infants

although they are unconscious of the fact. God is said

to dwell in them because He is influencing them within,8

to make them His temples. And this rebirth of water

1 Letter 187, 6.2 Letter 187, 7.

3 Letter 187, 10.

4 Letter 187, 14.5 Letter 187, 16.

6 Letter 187, 177 Letter 187, 26. 8 Letter 187, 27.


and of the Spirit confers upon the baptised the forgivenessof all sins. It is the Sacrament of our Regeneration.

Among expressions to notice in this letter are that

the Eucharist is called a sacrifice and reference is madeto the Liturgy ( 21). The Rule of Faith is also men-tioned as that to which all within the Church mustadhere

( 29). And Baptism is called the Sacrament of

our Regeneration ( 30),

One of Augustine's correspondents wrote him a letter l

concerning the end of the world. The writer main-tained that while it was not possible to determine the

day and the hour, there were, nevertheless, certain signs

by which it would be possible to recognise when the

end was near. The writer had been meditating on

Jerusalem being trodden down by the Gentiles until the

time of the Gentiles should be fulfilled. He had

thought on the signs in the sun and the moon and the

stars, and on the earth distress of nations, and men'shearts failing them for fear. There had been some

alarming incidents in the course of nature. He hadbeen reading also Jerome's exposition of the words in

Daniel, and was perplexed by the abomination of deso-

lation. So he confides in Augustine what he thinks,

hoping to hear some instruction in reply.

Augustine's replies give the impression of a man al-

ready absorbed in studies, breaking off from his labours

to answer an inquirer out of the fullness of his mind.And as he answers, thoughts crowd in upon him.

Precedents, authorities, scripture expositions, one after

another are poured out from an apparently inexhaustible

treasury of resources, until the fountain became a river

and the river became a sea.

In the present case there issues a masterly treatise,2

of more than fifty sections, on the end of the world.

Augustine begins by commending the zeal with which



his correspondent writes on the Advent of Christ;

dwells on the danger of reliance on the thought that the

Lord delays His coming; points out the true religiousattitude of desire to appear before the presence of God

;

and emphasises our ignorance of the times, as an

incentive to watchfulness. For the individual humanbeing the end of the world is the day when he dies. If

Christ said that it was not for His Apostles to know the

date of the last day, it would be presumption on our

part to define it.

Augustine's correspondent had referred to the

passages in Daniel 1 about the Son of Man coming with

the clouds of Heaven. Augustine requests him to

explain in unambiguous language precisely what this

means, and how it can be reconciled with our Lord's

own declaration that it is not for us to know the times

or the seasons. Appeal is made to S. Paul's dis-

couragement2 of expectations of a speedy return of

Christ. The Gospel words," of that day and that hour

knoweth no man," must not be understood to imply the

possibility of knowing the year or the decade or the

century, as Augustine imagined his correspondent to

suppose.3 A thousand years are to God as a single

day.4 The language of Daniel cannot contradict the

warning of Christ about our ignorance of the final day.5

It was disputed whether the words in Daniel refer to

Christ's first coming or to His second or to both.6 Un-

doubtedly every day brings us nearer to His coming.7

But what the interval is it is not for us to know. S. Paul

said the night is departing, the day is at hand. And yethow many years have elapsed ! Nevertheless what hesaid is true.

There is again much to reflect on in the expression"the last days." "In the last days grievous times

1 Letter 199, 13.2 Letter 199, 15.

3 Letter 199, 1 6. 4 Letter 199, 17.5 Letter 199, 19.

6 Letter 199, 21.7 Letter 199, 22.


shall come" (2 Tim. iii. i). "In the last days I will

pour forth of my Spirit" (Acts ii. 17). That phrase,"last days," appears to haunt the writer.1 If the periodof Whitsuntide was the "

last days" what are we to

say of the present ? The novissima hora advances until

the days come which will be novissimorum novissimi.

There is the coming of Christ through the Churchin which He never ceases coming until the end.2

Augustine is clear that much of the Evangelist's

description of the last days3 refers to the fall of Jeru-

salem and not to the end of the world. The abomina-tion of desolation refers to the former not to the latter.

The shortenings of the days refers to the calamities at

Jerusalem.But here Augustine insists that passages on the end

of the world are open to an allegorical rather than a

literal interpretation.4 " He that is on the housetop

let him not descend into his house "may well be under-

stood as a warning against returning from a spiritual to

a carnal manner of life. And the reference to the sun

being darkened was never more truly fulfilled than whenthe Light of the World was hanging from the Tree.5

Augustine's correspondent held that the end of the

world 6 must be near because the signs were beingfulfilled. Men's hearts were failing them for fear, andin anticipation of things which were coming on the earth.

For no single portion of the earth was free fromaffliction and tribulation. Augustine is not convinced

by this. For did not S. Paul teach that when theyare saying

" Peace and safety then sudden destruction

cometh"? (r Tim. v. 3). It is questionable, therefore,

whether the tribulation mentioned does not mean

experience in store for the Church rather than the

world. It may be that precisely when the world is

in a state of peace and security that the sudden

1 Letter 199, 24.2 Letter 199, 25.

3 Letter 199, 28 and 29.4 Letter 199, 32.

5 Letter 199, 34.6 Letter 199, 36.

2o6 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

destruction may come upon it. But at the time at

which Augustine was writing both Church and Worldwere suffering tribulation and nowhere could any one

speak of peace and security.The time when the sun shall not give its light is alle-

gorically the time when the Church's influence shall notbe felt

;and the stars will fall from heaven when those

who shone in moral excellence collapse and fail in timeof trial and temptation, in times when the strongest ofthe faithful will be shaken. 1

The end must be not when a selection only of these

indications is accomplished,2 but when the entire series

is complete. Meanwhile Christ is perpetually coming in

His Church.Moreover the end will be when the Gospel has been

universally proclaimed.3

Augustine's correspondent

supposes that this had already happened in the Apo-stolic age. Augustine cannot think this opinion correct.

There are many African peoples who have not yetheard of the Christian Faith. 4 Now it is not only the

Roman Empire but all nations to whom the Gospel is

to be preached. The dominion of Christ is to extendfrom sea to sea and from the river unto the world's end

(Ps. Ixxii. 8)." All nations whom Thou hast made shall

come and worship Thee, O Lord" (Ps. Ixxxvi. 9).

The words, "Ye shall be my witnesses . . . unto the

ends of the earth," no more apply to the Apostles onlythan the words,

"I am with you always unto the end of

the world." Both utterances apply to the Church. 5

Thus, says Augustine, drawing his lengthy disquisitionto a close,

6I have told you what I think. Error is to

be avoided so far as human power permits. What is

certain is that whether it be soon or late our Lord will

come. Meanwhile no man is in error so long as he is

aware of his ignorance, but only while he thinks he

1 Letter 199, 39.2 Letter 199, 45.

3 Letter 199, 46.4 Letter 199, 47.

5 Letter 199, 49.6 Letter 199, 52.


knows what he does not. On the subject of the Adventof Christ, the real evil is where men act irreligiously onthe ground that the Lord delays His coming. Settingthat instance of the bad servant aside, Augustine saysthat the good servants who look for their Lord's comingwatchfully are of three kinds. One believes that our

Lord will come soon. A second that His coming will

not be yet. The third confesses his ignorance. All

these are consistent with belief. For all alike love His

coming. The first says, Let us watch and pray for His

coming will be soon. 1 The second, Let us watch and

pray, for even if His coming be delayed, our life is short

and insecure. The third says, Let us watch and pray,for life is short and uncertain and we know not whenthe Lord will come. Now, since the Gospel says," Watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is

"

(Mark xiii. 33), what else does this third maintain than

precisely what the Gospel teaches ? The only difference

between the first kind and the last is, that the last admitsthat he does not know. If the first is right, the others

will rejoice. If the second, then there is the risk that

those who believed the first may lose heart on findingthat it is not true, and so cease to believe in the Advent

altogether. Thus the first holds the more desirable belief,

the second holds the more safe, and the third combinesthe more desirable with the more safe, for he goes astraywith neither of them, since he neither affirms nor denies.

In an important letter to Consentius,2Augustine dis-

cusses the doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body.Consentius asked whether the Lord's Body now possessesbones and blood and the lineaments of the flesh. Augus-tine replies that he believes the Lord's Body to be nowin heaven as it was on earth at the time of the Ascen-sion. He assumes that the Resurrection appearances of

Christ to the disciples represent exactly the Resurrection

state. He quotes the Lucan report: "Flesh and bones

1 Letter 199, 53.2 Letter 205, A.D. 420.


as ye see me have." And the passage :

"Shall so come

as ye have seen Him go." Thus Christ's Body in heavenis as it was in the appearances during the great FortyDays.At the same time this substantial identity and identity

in appearance is consistent with considerable change.The Divine power can remove from the nature of the

body what qualities He pleases and add others. Thusthe necessity of food and hunger will disappear, but the

power of taking food will remain. Corruptibility will

vanish, but the physical features will remain.

As to the text,"flesh and blood cannot inherit the

Kingdom of God," Augustine does not interpret the

words as a reference to works of the flesh. For moral

problems are not the subject with which the Apostle is

dealing. It means the corruption of the flesh.

When S. Paul says, "Thou sowest not that bodywhich shall be," he does not mean to deny substantial

identity between the present body and that of the

Resurrection. Wheat is always the product of wheat.What he means is, that if God adds to the bare grainthat which was not previously in it, much more can Herestore that which was in the body of man. 1

Augustine is quite clear that a spiritual body does

not mean a body transmuted into spirit.2 Man, who

consists of body and spirit, will not become all spirit.

The Apostle did not say, It is sown a body, it is raised a

spirit. He said, It is sown an animal body, it is raised

a spiritual body.Now as the animal body is not soul but body, so the

spiritual body is not spirit but body. The Resurrection

Body of Christ was certainly a spiritual body. But it

was body not spirit. Witness the invitation," Handle

me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as yesee me have." The flesh of Christ was already a spiritual

body. But it was not spirit : it was body.3

Letter 205, 6. 2 Letter 205, 10. 3 Ibid.


When S. Paul says that "flesh and blood cannot

inherit the Kingdom of God," he means that the corrup-tion of mortality cannot be transferred to the future

life.1

Thus it can be said that the flesh can inherit the

Kingdom of Heaven and that flesh cannot inherit.2

The one assertion is true in the sense of substance, the

other in the sense of corruption.It appears that thoughtful minds were being greatly

exercised on the difficulty of reconciling3 Christian

morals with ordinary social and political standards of

life. Men were asking then, as since, how is it possibleto reconcile the Christian ideal of patient endurance with

the political ideal of retaliation. Augustine suggeststhat the Pagan ideals commended a willingness on the

part of statesmen to overlook an injury ;that a State is

by its very constitution a multitude of individuals united

in mutual concord;

4 that the intention in patiently

submitting to the loss of worldly advantage is to showthe superiority of faith and righteousness, thereby

appealing to the offender's better nature, and overcom-

ing evil with good. Augustine points out that the

precept on submission to violence 5is intended to sug-

gest what is the right inward spirit rather than what is

the appropriate outward action. For Christ Himselfwhen smitten did not turn the other cheek to the smiter,

but expostulated with the aggressor's injustice. Thusin this instance our Lord did not fulfil the letter of His

own precept. But the spirit which guided Him is re-

vealed in the prayer on the Cross,"Father, forgive them,

for they know not what they do." Neither did S. Paul

obey the letter of Christ's precept when struck by an

attendant in the high priest's court. Augustine did not

consider that there was anything inconsistent with the

1 Letter 205, 13.z Letter 205, 16.

3 Letter 138. For the earlier part of this letter see chapter on

the Eucharist.4 Letter I38, 10. 5 Letter 138, 13.

o


Christian temper in the Apostle's indignant" God shall

smite thee, thou whited wall." He also thought that

the Apostle's apology for his language was pure sarcasm,since it was impossible for so instructed a person not to

realise that the presiding personage was the high priest.Moral indignation is right,

1 and severity of correction

is right ;and both are compatible with the Christian

disposition.

Christianity does not absolutely prohibit war. 2 Theadvice to the soldiers in the Gospel was not to throw

away their weapons, but to do violence to no man, andto be content witli their pay. But to tell a man to becontent with his pay implies approval of his profession.

It is observable that Augustine in another letter

pleaded with the same statesman to mitigate the

penalties incurred by the fanatical and violent Donatists.3

No reader of Augustine's letters will fail to appreciatethe note of caution and carefulness, the restraint im-

posed by consciousness of the individual theologian's

liability to error, which for the most part pervades his

replies to his correspondents. As his reputation in-

creased he became an oracle to some whom he considered

unwise admirers. Consequently he puts thoughts for-

ward tentatively and expressly asks for criticism and if

need be correction. On one occasion he was led to

express his dislike for Cicero's commendatory languageabout a man who never uttered what he had reason to

recall.4 Augustine held that this was more likely to betrue of a perfect fool than of a perfectly wise man. Hevastly preferred the Horatian warning : the word once

spoken can never be recalled. It was that sense of

responsibility for his utterances, he tells us, which led

him to keep back several of his works from publication,

especially his writings on Genesis and on the HolyTrinity.

5 So again he is anxious about his writings on

1 Letter 138, 14.2 Letter 138, 15.


5 Letter 143, 4


Free Will. They have passed into many hands andcannot be called in for correction. But if readers will

point out errors to Augustine he will be grateful ;

x for

if the books cannot be corrected, the author may. Oncertain points he had carefully refrained from dogmatis-ing. Thus, whether the individual soul is derived bytransmission from the first man, as the body is, or

whether each soul is a new creation, he has not venturedto determine. The subject is most mysterious, and heis bound to confess his ignorance. If any one can informhim from reason or from Scripture what is the truth

about this, he will be grateful. He insists on these twosources of knowledge.

" For if reason be found contradicting the authority of

the Divine Scriptures, it only deceives by a semblanceof truth, however acute it be, for its deductions cannotin that case be true. On the other hand, if, against the

most manifest and reliable testimony of reason, anythingbe set up claiming to have the authority of the HolyScriptures, he who does this does it through a misappre-hension of what he has read, and is setting up againstthe truth not the real meaning of Scripture, which he

has failed to discover, but an opinion of his own;he

alleges not what he ha^s found in the Scriptures, butwhat he has found in himself as their interpreter."

2

In order to complete Augustine's teaching on the

state of the Departed it may be well here to add a

summary of his teaching given elsewhere in a work

composed for the instruction of Bishop Paulinus.

Although it is not included among Augustine's letters

yet it is a letter after all : the distinction betweenletters and treatises being in Augustine's case almost

impossible, since the one constantly tended to pass into

the other.

Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, wrote to ask Augustinewhether he considered that burial at the chapel of a

1 Letter 143, 7. Cunningham's translation. 2 Ibid.

2i2 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

martyr was an advantage to the dead. The questiongave Augustine an opportunity of recording his thoughtson relation to the Departed in the short and veryinteresting treatise on Care for the Dead.1 Paulinusheld that the religious instincts which prompted mento care for the departed, and more especially the fact

that the Universal Church offered supplications for

them, could not be without significance ;on the other

hand this seemed hard to reconcile with the Apostolicwords :

" We must all stand before the judgment seat

of Christ, that each one may receive according to the

things done in the body, whether good or bad." 2 This

Apostolic declaration warns that everything to profitus after death must be done before death comes

;not

afterwards, when it is the time to receive according to

things done in the body.The solution of the problem Augustine finds in the

principle that the departed can only be aided by the

Church 3 if they have made themselves susceptible of

such aid by their life when on earth. Thus their beingaided by the Church's intercessions does not contradict

their requital for things done in the body, but forms

part of it. The divisions of the Departed are accord-

ingly three : those who are tco saintly to need the

Church's intercessions;those who are too evil to be

benefited by them;and those of an intermediate type,

whose conduct when on earth makes them susceptibleof such aid. The type of behaviour on earth determinessuch susceptibility. If no merit is acquired in this life

it is vain to expect it afterwards. Thus the Churchis right in her practice of intercession for the Departed,and yet every man is judged according to his works.

This answer, Augustine considers, might suffice.

The contradiction is solved. 4 But the importance of

the relation between Dead and Living leads him to

1 De Cura pro mortuis gerenda, written about A.D. 421. Works,Gaume's Edition, VI. 865888.

2 2 Cor. v. 10.3 De Cura, 2.

4 Letter 143, 3.


further and fuller reflections. The Books of the Macca-bees speak of sacrifices offered for the Departed ; buteven if this were never read of. in the Ancient Scrip-tures, the practice of the Universal Church, which in

this point is luminously clear, possesses no small

authority. In the priest's prayers at the Altar there

is a commendation of the dead. But on the questionwhether the locality of burial affects the condition ofthe soul of the dead person, Augustine appeals to senti-

ments already expressed in the work on the City of

God.1 Care for the burial of the dead is rather aconsideration to the living than an advantage to the

departed. To which he now adds that in no case

should intercessions for the souls of the dead be

neglected. The Universal Church herself dischargesthis office for those who have no near relatives to pleadfor them.2 If this intercession be ignored he cannotthink that the corpse's proximity to sacred places canaid the departed soul.3 But a faithful mother's desire

for her son to be buried in the church of a Martyr,

surely implied a belief that the Martyr's merits would

help his soul;which belief was in itself a sort of inter-

cession, and that would aid, if anything can. But yet

Augustine would plainly deprecate concern for mere

physical proximity to the relics of a saint.4 The

scattering of Martyrs' ashes on the Rhone, whichEusebius records, would never have been permitted byProvidence if thereby any loss accrued to the dead.

Christ answered this beforehand when He said," Fear

not them that kill the body, but after that have no morethat they can do." Human sentiment indeed mightbe thereby distressed by anticipation :

5 which explains,

Augustine thinks, the Old Testament menace :

"Thy

body shall not come into the sepulchres of thy fathers."

But if we think in accordance with the Gospel, we rest

1 Letter 143, 4.2 Letter 143, 6.

Letter 143, 7-4 Letter 143, 8.

6 Letter 143, 9.


assured that the locality in which the body lies cannotaffect the soul. Augustine refers here l to stories of the

dead appearing to the living in dreams and pleading for

burial. He is not convinced that such apparitions are

consciously created by the dead, since the living appearalso to us in dreams, and yet are quite unconscious that

they appear. Augustine quotes a case from personal

experience. Eulogius, a pupil of his at Carthage, told

him that when preparing to lecture on Cicero he came

upon a passage which he could not understand. But in

the night in a dream Augustine himself appeared and

gave the explanation."It was not myself/' says Augus-

tine."It was my image unconsciously to myself. For I

was at Milan, between us lay the sea." Augustine's in-

ference is that visions of the Departed do not necessarilyinvolve their personal intervention, since similar visions

of the living are experienced apart from their conscious

activity. His solution is, that such visions are the

products of some heavenly agency.2 If the souls of the

departed were present in the affairs of the living andcan speak to us in dreams Augustine is certain that his

mother who had followed him over seas and land onearth would certainly not have failed to appear to him.He cannot credit that the happier conditions of the

other world have rendered the Departed forgetful of

this, and that she should neglect to comfort her sorrow-

ing son, whom she never could bear to see in distress.

To Augustine's mind the Psalmist's thought is applicablehere :

" When my father and my mother forsake me the

Lord taketh me up."3 And if a departed mother does

not present herself to us again, still less can others of

the dead know what we do or what we endure. " Thouart our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us andIsrael recognises us not." Hence the promise: "Thoushalt be gathered into thy grave in peace ;

and thine

eyes shall not see the evil which I will bring upon this

1 Letter 143, 12.2 Letter 143, 16. 3 Psalm xxvi. ia


place."1

There, then, are the spirits of the dead where

they do not see what is done or experienced in this life

by mankind. The parable of Dives and Lazarus is notin contradiction with this. The rich man remembershis brethren on earth

;but he is not said to be

acquainted with their state. Just as we pray for the

dead without a knowledge of their condition. 2Augus-

tine nevertheless suggests that each fresh accession to

the other world would bring increase of information ;

if what they are permitted to remember they are also

permitted to impart. Angels also, if permitted, may dothe same.The appearance of the departed Samuel to King Saul

and his prediction of Saul's future may,3 or may not,

involve an actual appearance of the dead, but have beencaused by other means. The Book Ecclesiasticus saysof Samuel that 4 "after his death he prophesied."

Augustine is aware that some may think this uncon-

vincing, since the Book is not contained in the HebrewCanon of Scripture. In any case this objection will

not hold of the Evangelical manifestations of Moses and

Elijah.How it is that the departed,

5although ignorant of the

condition of the living, do nevertheless answer their

petitions? Augustine acknowledges that he cannot

explain. Religious experience affirms that the departedsaints do answer petitions. And this experience

Augustine respects. Perhaps it is that they possess a

modified ubiquity ; perhaps they pray generally for the

living in ignorance of their actual state, as we do for the

Departed ;and the Almighty, Who is everywhere present,

hears their prayers and answers as He pleases. But the

question is, Augustine confesses, beyond his powers.He would rather inquire of those who know.

1 2 Kings xxii. 20. z De Cura, 18.

3cf. Augustine's reply to Simplician 2, 4 :

" De diversis ques-tionibus."

4 Ecclus. xlvi. 20.5 De Cura, 19 and 20.

CHAPTER VII

THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN AUGUSTINE ANDJEROME

IT would be possible to group together Augustine'sletters to various other persons besides Jerome. For

example, Paulinus of Nola. But the series with Jeromeis by far the most celebrated, and possesses a distinct

importance of its own.The subjects discussed are

1. The. translation of Scripture from the Originalinstead of from the Greek. The importance ofa Version

already in possession. Bishop Lightfoot's use of the

correspondence at the time of the discussion on our

Revised Version will be remembered.2. The dispute between S. Peter and S. Paul recorded

in Galatians. 1

3. The question of the Origin of the Soul. This

subject became inevitable when the Pelagian Controversyraised discussion on Original Sin.

The correspondence between Augustine and Jeromethrows considerable light on the characters of the two

great men who were in many ways so deeply contrasted.

It seems that the two never saw one another. This is

a little curious. For Augustine went to Rome in 383and remained there until he left for Milan in 385, while

Jerome was resident in Rome from 381 to 385. And if

Augustine was obscure at the time, most certainly1 For modern accounts of the discussion between Augustine and

Jerome on this subject see Mohler : Gesammelte Schriften undAufsatze, 1839, pp. 1-18; Zahii in Neue Kirchliche Zeitschrift,

1894, p. 435 ; Dufey in the Revue du Clerge fran^ais, 1901, pp.141-9.

216

LETTERS TO ST. JEROME 217

Jerome was not. No name roused more attention and

opposition than his. It is, therefore, strange that

Augustine never saw him. On the other hand, Augus-tine's interests during those years were not in the

direction of the Church. Yet it is strange that so alert

a mind was unconscious of the perfect fury which

Jerome's sermons and writings roused in the religiouscircles of the capital. But movements within the

Church do not always greatly affect the world.

This correspondence was extended over twenty-oneyears.

In the first letter l which he wrote to Jerome, probablyin 394, Augustine lays stress on the fact that they hadnever met

;but adds that he has a good idea of Jerome's

appearance, since Alypius had paid Jerome a visit andhad reported to Augustine his impressions. He informs

Jerome that Alypius, now a Bishop, is his mostintimate friend

;and that if they are two in body, they

are one in mind. Augustine calls Jerome his fellow-

presbyter, although it is quite possible that this letter

was written after the writer had been consecrated

Bishop. Fellow- presbyter is Augustine's usual descriptionof Jerome (see Letters 67 and 71) ;

also of other priestsafter his own consecration.

Augustine's purpose in writing is to give Jerome someadvice on the direction which his studies were taking,

2

and to criticise one of his interpretations. Augustinewas anxious that Jerome should confine his attention

to the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew

Scriptures and should not concern himself with trans-

lating direct from the Hebrew into Latin. The Bishopconsidered that very high authority must be allowed to

the Greek translators. He notes that subsequent trans-

lators are unable to agree. His inference is that it is

not credible that any further light can be discovered.

With regard to the differences between more recent



translations he puts to Jerome the following dilemma :

Either these passages are obscure or else they are clear.

If they are obscure, Jerome is as likely to misunderstandthem as the other translators. If they are clear, it is not

likely that the Septuagint translators misunderstood.The other subject in Jerome's writings which exercises

the Bishop's mind is the explanation given by the critic

of the famous dispute in Galatians between S. Paul andS. Peter.

The interpretation of this passage had a curious historybefore Augustine's time. Two opinions on S. Peter's

conduct had existed. One was that he failed in moral

courage, and vacillated once more as he did at the trial

of his Master. Among the early supporters of this

interpretation was S. Cyprian. (Letter 71.) The other

opinion was that such inconsistency was unlikely on the

part of one who supported S. Paul at the Council of

Jerusalem. A decided reluctance prevailed to ascribe

such vacillations to one so distinguished. Accordinglya totally different construction was placed upon the

scene. One of the greatest exponents of this second

interpretation was S. John Chrysostom.S. John Chrysostom observed that many readers of

Galatians imagine that S. Paul accused S. Peter of

dissimulation. But, said Chrysostom, this opinioncomes of superficial reading. Peter is a person whose

very name suggests immovableness,1 and whose faith

was not likely to fail. Chrysostom accordingly main-tained that the two Apostles arranged the scene at

Antioch beforehand. "I withstood him to the face"

means, in Chrysostom's opinion,"

I withstood him in

appearance, but not in reality." And " because he wasblameable " means not blamed by S. Paul, but blamed

by the Gentile converts who were offended at his

aloofness. If the contention between the two Apostleshad been a real one, Chrysostom is sure they would

1 Works, Edition Gaume, Tom. X. 815, 816.


have held it privately, for fear of scandalising thebelievers. The whole scene, then, was a diplomatic

arrangement. The Jewish converts would not havelistened to criticism from S. Paul. S. Peter, therefore,

pretended to take their side, and allowed S. Paul to

criticise him for his conduct. S. Peter offered no replyto S. Paul's reproaches, so that when the Jewish converts

found that their chief had no defence to make, theythemselves would be compelled to fall into line withS. Paul's instructions. This was certainly subtle. Butthe interpretation inflicted appalling violence on the

text. And it seems extraordinary that Chrysostomshould have performed so perverse a feat of exegesis.Yet this interpretation was widely prevalent both before

Chrysostom's time and afterwards. It was traced to

Origen and was supported by distinguished writers.

S. Jerome read Chrysostom's explanation and adopted it.

Jerome's explanation of the incident at Antioch wasthat 1 S. Peter, who was well aware of the indifference

of Jewish observances, and showed it by associating for

a while with the Gentile converts, withdrew from the

Gentiles simply out of diplomatic desire to win the Jews.He, therefore, pretended a zeal for Jewish observanceswhich he did not really feel. In Jerome's opinion this

attitude of S. Peter led S. Paul, who saw through the

older Apostle's motive, but saw also that it was en-

dangering the doctrine of Christian Grace, to counteract

S. Peter's diplomacy by pretending to denounce him.

Thus S. Paul, the experienced controversialist, adopteda new and original method of refuting the Jewishexcluslveness. Jerome explains that ifany one supposesS. Paul to have really intended to rebuke S. Peter he is

mistaken. For that would put S. Paul in contradiction

with his own statement that to the Jews he became as

a Jew in order to win the Jews ;and in contradiction

also with the fact that he allowed Timothy to be

1

Jerome's Works. Edit. Vallarsi. Verona 1737. Tom. VII. 405.


circumcised. Thus, as Jerome put it, S. Paul metdissimulation by dissimulation

;a pretence of observing

the Law by a pretence of rebuke. Biblical instances of

dissimulation, urged Jerome, could be found in Jehu'streatment of the worshippers of Baal. And indeeddissimulation may be justified where it tends to spiritual

advantage.

Jerome mentions that certain writers maintained that

the Peter named in this incident was not the Apostlebut some other individual otherwise unknown. Thiswas apparently suggested to protect the Apostle fromthe criticism of Porphyry, who charged him with havingerred. Jerome dismisses this view as incredible. Theinvention of another Peter in order to exclude the

belief that Peter erred is a desperate expedient.S. Paul then artfully simulated an indignation with

S. Peter which he did not feel, while in reality hecorrected the Jewish adherents through rebukes osten-

sibly addressed to S. Peter. If any person is not

satisfied with this interpretation, says Jerome, let him

explain how S. Paul could condemn in another what he

practised himself.

This exposition by Jerome is more than Augustinecan endure. 1 In his opinion it is exceedingly serious.

For if an Apostle may officially advocate what he

believes to be false, the whole foundation of faith in

their utterances is undermined. This theory of the

fabrication of an officiosum mendacium is, in Augustine's

opinion, simply fatal to the belief in the veracity of HolyScripture. He is sure that there can be no room in

Apostolic utterances for piously intended falsehoods.2

He points out the Apostle's earnest and solemn insist-

ence on the duty of truth. This was S. Paul's expressdeclaration in regard to the doctrine of the Resurrection.

Nothing could exceed his horror at being found false

witness concerning God.

1 Letter 28, 3.2Letter^S, 4,


Augustine pictures S. Paul's feelings if any one were to

urge :

" Why are you so shocked by this falsehood, whenthe thing which you have said, even if it were false,

tends very greatly to the glory of God ?"

This pro-motion of edification at the expense of sincerity andtruth would be to S. Paul simply abhorrent. Augustineis sure of that.

If this maxim of concealing truth in the interests of

expediency be once admitted, one result will be that

individuals believe one portion of Apostolic teachingand reject another. If Jerome maintains this theoryhe is bound to lay down rules by which it will be

possible to ascertain when false statements are per-missible and when they are not. 1

Jerome wrote to Augustine before the letter fromAfrica reached him. He sent one letter in 396 bysubdeacon Asterius and another in 397 by the priestPraesidius. 2 The purpose of the former was to con-

gratulate Augustine on his consecration;of the latter to

commend Praesidius to his notice, and to salute Alypius.

Jerome in his Monastery at Bethlehem is much troubled

by the disturbed condition of the outer world.

Augustine replied to these letters rather dissatisfied

with Jerome's brevity.3 The Bishop a second time

criticises Jerome's opinion that S. Paul's opposition to

S. Peter at Antioch was diplomatic and not genuine.S. Paul's emphatic protest,

" Now the things that I write

unto you behold before God I lie not," is to Augustineconclusive proof that the writer did not simulate an

unreal grievance against S. Peter's behaviour. Thisconclusion is still further confirmed by S. Paul's ownwords, "When I saw that they walked not uprightly

according to the truth of the Gospel."4 If S. Peter was

after all walking uprightly then S. Paul's assertion is

false. And if what he says in this place is false, how

Letter 28, 5.2 Letter 39.

Letter 40, A.D. 397.4 Letter 40, 3.

222 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE.

are we to know when he is telling us what is true ?

That question will be answered according to individual

inclination and preference.

Jerome does not need to be informed l that the words" to the Jews I became a Jew that I might gain the

Jews" (i Cor. ix. 20) refer to sympathy, not to dissimu-

lation. S. Paul did not criticise S. Peter for observingthe Jewish tradition but for compelling the Gentiles to

Judaize.2

Augustine therefore calls on Jerome to retract;

to

sing a Palinode.3

Augustine further observes that he had previouslywritten to Jerome on this subject. But he is aware that

the letter could not have reached Palestine as the bearer

was unable to complete his journey. That was appar-ently two years before (see Letter 28).Some correspondence had already taken place between

Augustine and Jerome4 on the writings of Origen.

These letters appear to have been lost. But from the

allusion on the present occasion Augustine was evidently

keenly conscious alike of the value and of the dangers "of

Origen's writings. He must have said as much to

Jerome. Jerome, who had committed himself to anenthusiastic approval of Origen, which he afterwards

found inconvenient, was now particularly sensitive of his

own reputation for orthodoxy, and appears to have

replied with the rather obvious remark that in ecclesias-

tical writers we must commend what is orthodox andcondemn what is heretical. Augustine answers that he

hardly required this piece of information. What he does

require to know is definitely the precise subjects uponwhich Origen deviated from the truth. He suggeststhat Jerome's work on ecclesiastical writers would be

greatly improved if he were to add to his notice of

heretics a statement of their theories which the Catholic

1 Letter 40, 4.z Letter 40, 5.



Church has condemned. Indeed, if Jerome would write

a small book on heresies to be avoided, he would confer

great service on those who are unable to read Greek.

Unfortunately, Augustine's letter of criticism on

Jerome's expositions, instead of reaching Jerome, reachedother people first. When Jerome heard about it hewrote 1

complaining that Augustine is reported to havewritten a book against him and to have sent it to Rome.

Augustine replied that he had not written a book againsthim, but had only criticised some of Jerome's expositionsin correspondence. The distinction between a book anda letter is in Augustine's case somewhat subtle, as his

letters quite frequently assumed the proportion of a

treatise.

Jerome replied to this that Augustine's criticisms uponhim 2 have now arrived, and he finds that the Bishopinvites him to retract his exposition. Jerome says that

he is not such a fool as to be hurt by Augustine's inter-

pretations. But he advises the younger man not to

challenge his senior in the field of Scripture exposition.3

Jerome is old and his work is done. Let Augustineleave him in peace.

4 None the less an old ox can givean ugly kick sometimes.

But Augustine felt it impossible to act on this advice.5

For Jerome was engaged in labours which the Bishopstrongly disapproved. He was translating the OldTestament from the Hebrew instead of from the Greek.

Accordingly Augustine wrote again in the following

year. The difficulties of correspondence in those dayswere immense. Augustine had already sent a letter to

Jerome by a priest travelling to Syria. But the priestwas delayed in order to be consecrated Bishop, and

shortly after died. So the letter was now entrusted to

another messenger.In the present letter Augustine takes Jerome to task

1 Letter 67.2 Letter 68, ? A.D. 402.

3 Letter 68, 2.



for translating the Book of Job from the Hebrew. 1

They already possess a translation from the Greek.

Jerome would be much better occupied in interpretingthe Greek and Canonical Scriptures. For if his render-

ing of the Hebrew comes into use in Churches, the idea

will prevail that the Latin Churches differ from theGreek Churches. 2

Augustine cites a case where

Jerome's Version of the Book of Jonah from the Hebrewwas introduced, and created such opposition among the

people that the Bishop had to apply to the Jews to knowwhether Jerome's Latin or the older Latin representedthe Original. Even then the Bishop was forced either

to withdraw Jerome's rendering or else to lose his

congregation.3

Augustine, therefore, strongly advises Jerome to basehis translations on the Greek of the LXX and not uponthe Hebrew.

It was now seven years since Augustine's first letter 4

on the incident at Antioch. Jerome now in 403 or 404replied remarking that Augustine was constantly writingletters to him, and requesting an answer to a certain

document which has at last reached him. But Jeromeprofesses himself unable to understand why a documentintended for himself should be circulated in Italy and in

Rome, while no copy came to the person for whom it

was intended. A copy was found by a deacon, Brother

Sysinius, five years ago not in Augustine's possession,not in Africa, but in an island of the Adriatic.

Some of his friends, who abound in Jerusalem and the

Holy Places, are suggesting that Augustine is makingall this fuss simply from motives of vainglory andambition. Jerome has no wish to oppose a Bishop of

his own communion;more especially since some of the

remarks in Augustine's letter appear to him no better

than heretical. Either let Augustine send an unmistak-


3 Letter 71, 5.4 Letter 72, ? A.D. 403 or 404.


ably genuine signed letter, or let him cease to worry anold man in his cell. But if he wants to show his abilitylet him find some youthful competitor fit to meet a

Bishop. There are plenty of such people in Rome.The Veteran Jerome will applaud Augustine's victories.

Like Barzillai of Gilead, the charms of David's court

can possess no attractions for Jerome. He willingly

relinquishes all the pleasures of youth to his son.

The recluse observes that Augustine had denied the

charge of having written a book against Jerome.1 How

is it, then, that Italy possesses what Augustine has notwritten ? And why ask Jerome to reply to what youdeny that you wrote ? Jerome is particularly exasperatedby being invited to retract his opinions. It is not

becoming for one who from early manhood to old agehas toiled with his brethren in a small religious house to

write anything against a Bishop of his own communion.After all, he does not know much of Augustine's

writings, except the Soliloquies and the Commentarieson the Psalms. It would not be hard to show howfar these diverge from the Greek interpreters. Withwhich Parthian shot he takes farewell of one whomhe calls

"my son in years, my father in ecclesiastical

position."It was not easy to reply in suitable terms to such a

letter as this. 2Augustine .was evidently dismayed by the

rude and savage temper of the learned old recluse, and did

his best to soothe and conciliate. He has sent Jeromea copy of the incriminated document by one of his

deacons, and hopes that by this time it will be in

Jerome's hands. The letter which Jerome has written

contains evidences alike of benevolence and vexation.

Augustine did not mean to give ofTence. Nothing could

be further from his intention. But since his letter has

had that effect, the good Bishop asks Jerome's forgive-ness. Augustine then quotes from Jerome's angry epistle

1 Letter 72, 4.2 Letter 73, A,D. 404.

p


a passage in which the old priest condescended to a

more kindly tone, and expressed the wish that he and

Augustine might meet. "Yes, indeed," echoes the

Bishop."It is distance which makes these difficulties.

I wrote likewise concerning the passage in Galatians

when I was a Juvenis, and now, lo ! I am already Sener,and I have received no reply." He wishes he could payJerome a visit. Since that is impossible, he contem-

plates sending one of his sons in order to obtain

instruction from Jerome. For Augustine has not andcannot hope to have, the knowledge of Scripture which

Jerome possesses. Whatever capacities he may possessfor study have to be entirely devoted to the instruction

of his people. His ecclesiastical occupations precludeany further research.

Then he touches upon a very delicate matter indeed.

It was notorious that Jerome and Rufinus, formerly the

greatest of friends, were now the bitterest of enemies.

Augustine had been reading Jerome's own publishedutterances about it. And he can only say, Woe to

the world because of offences! And because iniquityabounds the love of many shall wax cold. What manwill not now fear to find in his dearest friend a future

foe, if Jerome and Rufinus can be enemies. Augustinebecomes deeply earnest over this. He was profoundlymoved that two men intimately united in continuous

study of the Sacred Writings, separated from secular

pursuits, unencumbered by worldly affairs, living to-

gether in the very land which Christ's sacred feet hadtrod

;the very land where He said, "Peace I leave with

you, My peace I give unto you," being also men maturein age, and dwelling habitually on heavenly themes,should deal in terms of virulent antagonism.

"Truly,"

exclaims the Bishop," man's life on earth is a period of

trial. If I could anywhere meet you both, I wouldthrow myself at your feet, and there weeping till I

could weep no more, I would appeal with all the

eloquence of love, first to each of you for his own sake,


then to each of you for each other's sake and for the

sake of other men, above all for the weak brethren for

whom Christ died, whose salvation is imperilled : youwho occupy a position so conspicuous on the world's

platform : I would beseech not to publish bitter words

which, after the quarrel is ended, you will not be able

to withdraw, and which you will fear to read for fear of

rousing evil passions again.":

Augustine then acknowledges that some of Jerome'sutterances had terrified him. He could not forget the

facts while reading Jerome's letter to himself.

If mutual inquiry and discussion between Augustineand Jerome can be conducted without bitterness, be it

so. But if neither can criticise the other's writingswithout loss of charity, let discussion cease and charitybe pursued. Let us only pursue knowledge which

puffeth up so long as no injury is done to love whichedifies.

To appreciate this reference in Augustine's letter to

the quarrel between Jerome and Rufinus the wholexstory

should be read in Duchesne, Histoire A ncienne de TEglise,Tom. III. pp. 38-68. Ed. 1910. Here it may be sufficient

to say the dispute between the two aged students wasabout the heretical tendencies of Origen. Until the

year 392 Jerome had freely translated Origen's worksand had spoken very highly in commending them.

However, about that date, through the bustling activi-

ties of that inveterate heresy-hunter Epiphanius, Pales-

tine became torn into two ferocious camps of friends

and opponents of Origen.Then Rufinus, Jerome's friend, who was at that time

visiting Rome, produced a version of Origen's greatwork De Principiis, carefully omitting, however, from

his translation all Origen's unorthodox opinions, on the

ground that these had been interpolated by his enemies.

Rufinus went so far as to identify Jerome's name with

1 Letter 73.


his own version. Jerome's friends in Rome thereuponstirred up the old recluse of Bethlehem to dissociate

himself from Rufinus and his translations. Jerome ac-

cordingly published a complete translation of Origen'swork containing all the incriminating theories whichRufinus had discreetly omitted. Thereupon Romemoved itself, and issued a condemnation of Origen,

prohibiting his works. Then Rufinus published a self-

defence. Jerome, particularly sensitive for his reputationfor orthodoxy, fell on Rufinus with all the unscrupulous-ness and ferocity of which he was capable in his worstmoments. It was Jerome's unrestrained abuse andbitterness which scandalised all who knew him, andcalled forth, among other letters, Augustine's remon-strances. Rufinus withdrew into silence. Ten yearslater he died. But even then the ancient fury revived,and Jerome in the most unedifying and deplorableterms gloated over his friend's decease. The scorpionhad expired : the grunter was now dead : and Jeromewas delighted.There was certainly need of more than ordinary diplo-

matic caution in conducting a theological discussion

with a student of this disposition.

By way of precaution against giving further offence

Augustine submitted his letters to the criticism of BishopPraesidius, asking him to correct it, if he saw anythingdefective either in its substance or its form.1

Before this fourth letter from Augustine had reached

Bethlehem, Jerome had written his reply to Augustine'scriticism on the dispute at Antioch between S. Paul andS. Peter. 2

Jerome says that three letters, or rather small

treatises, have arrived from Augustine. Then he cau-

tiously leaves a way to evade the statements contained

in his own reply, by saying that he is compelled to

write hastily, since the carrier leaves in three days.None the less he writes a very careful answer. His

1 Letter 74.z Letter 75, A.D. 404.


bitterness has subsided. He is now sure that Augustinedesires the victory of truth, that he is not seeking his

own glory, but Christ's;he is contending with a peaceful

mind.

Then, as to his Commentary on the Epistle to the

Galatians, and Augustine's opinion that the disputebetween the two Apostles was not simulated but genu-ine, Jerome explains that he had expressly stated in the

preface to this work that he had made a collection of

the comments of other interpreters. He had followed

the Commentaries of Origen. Then he quoted Didy-mus the Blind

;also Apollinaris of Laodicea, who,

however, has since forsaken the Church;

also Alex-

ander, a former heretic;

Eusebius also, of Emesa;

l

Theodore, too, of Heracleum; last, but not least, there

was John Chrysostom, who recently, in pontifical dig-

nity, was ruling the Church at Constantinople2 and

who followed the interpretation given by Origen. Thisis an imposing array of eminent expositors, thinks

Jerome." If you reproach me for being in error, allow

me to be in error with such men as these."

So much, then, for the authority of his interpretation.Now for the interpretation itself. Jerome insisted that

long before S. Paul's supposed opposition to him at

Antioch, S. Peter was well aware that the Law was not

to be imposed on adherents of the Gospel. Indeed, in

Jerome's opinion S. Peter was the author of the decision

in the Council of Jerusalem. Jerome further calls at-

tention to the high value which S. Paul ascribes to

S. Peter's authority. Did not S. Paul declare that after

three years he went to Jerusalem3 to see Peter and

abode with him fifteen days? And again: "Fourteen

years after I went up again to Jerusalem . . . and I

went up by revelation, and communicated unto themthat gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but

privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any

1 Letter 75, 4.2 Letter 75, 6. 3 Gal. i. 18.


means I should run, or had run, in vain." 1 This passageshows, says Jerome, that S. Paul had no security in

preaching the Gospel unless he was strengthened bythe opinion of Peter and those who were with him. 2

In the case under dispute Jerome maintains that

Peter's belief was orthodox, but that he was led by fear

of the Judaisers to dissimulate his real belief. He wasafraid that the Jews, whose Apostle he was, should re-

volt from the faith of Christ in consequence of theGentile neglect of Mosaic observances.

Now, argued Jerome, S. Paul did precisely the same

thing.3 For he circumcised Timothy. And why ? Be-

cause of the Jews who were in that place. Let S. Paultherefore excuse in S. Peter the very thing which he did

himself. So again with S. Paul's vow at Cenchrea. So

again with his conformity to Jewish customs in the

Temple.4

Therefore, said Jerome, both S. Paul and S. Peter pro-fessed a mere external conformity to Judaism throughfear of the Jews.

5

It was not an " officiosum mendacium "in the Apostles

Peter and Paul.6Jerome resents the idea. It was an

" honesta dispensatio." It showed the prudence of both.

But Jerome makes it plain that what commended this

interpretation to himself was that it protected S. Peterfrom the disdainful criticism of such men as Porphyrius,as well as that it protected S. Paul from the charge of

having rebuked in another the very line he himself hadon other occasions adopted.

Jerome then proceeded to criticise Augustine's expo-sition. 7

Augustine held that S. Paul's conduct was

prompted by sympathy, not by fear, when he says that

to the Jews he became as a Jew in order that he mightgain the Jews. This was genuine compassion, not dis-

1 Gal. ii. 1-2. 2 Letter 75, 8.3 Letter 75, 9.

4 Letter 75, 10.5 Letter 75, n, 6 Ibid.7 Letter 75, 12.


simulation. He acted like a physician to a sick person.He humoured them. S. Paul had been a Jew. If hewas now a Christian he would still adhere to Jewishobservances as an Apostle, in order to show there was

nothing hurtful in them so long as a man did not placehis hope of salvation in them.

S. Peter would not have been in error in permittingJewish converts to retain their previous rites. His error

consisted in forcing these things on the Gentiles : in

compelling the Gentiles to Judaise.

Jerome cannot tolerate Augustine's exposition.1 The

opinion that a converted Jew might retain his former

practices, would justify every sect of semi-Jewishcharacter: Ebionites, Nazarenes, etc.

;in fact, all those

communions which attempt to be both Jews and Chris-

tians, and succeed in being neither Christians nor Jews.How could S. Paul, Jerome asks indignantly, retain

the sacraments of the Jews after his conversion to

Christ? 2 Did not S. Paul say that if a man was cir-

cumcised Christ would profit him nothing? Did he not

say,"If ye are led by the Spirit ye are not under the

law ?" You are a Bishop, a Master in the Church of

Christ, says Jerome ; prove the reality of your explana-tion by accepting a Jewish convert who has his son

circumcised and keeps the Sabbath. Then you will

know that it is harder to justify your own explanationthan to find fault with that of other people.

3

Jerome pursued the subject with hard mechanical

distinctions.4 Augustine said these Jewish rites werenot necessary to salvation. Jerome answered : If theydo not bring salvation why are they observed ? Either,

adds Jerome, a thing is good or else it is bad. Thereis no middle state of moral indifference. These legal

observances must be either one or the other. You say

they are good. I say they are bad.

Letter 75, 13.2 Letter 75, 14.

Letter 75, 15.4 Letter 75, 16.

232 THE LETTERS 'OF ST. AUGUSTINE

Then, relapsing into one of his moods of excruciat-

ingly bad taste,1Jerome sarcastically requests Augustine

not to rouse against him the clamour of the ignorantlittle congregation who venerate Augustine as a Bishop,and when they hear him orating in church accord himthe honour due to his ministry. Only let Augustineleave the half-decrepit old man alone, and find other

people to instruct or reprove. Seas and lands lie

between them. So great is the distance that the soundof Augustine's voice can seldom reach so far. And if

Augustine does write letters they reach Italy and Romesooner than the person to whom they should have beendirected.

Augustine here displayed greater critical insight than

Jerome. The Bishop appreciated better than the priestwhat was permissible and natural in a period of tran-

sition from the Old Dispensation to the New. Jerome'schallenge to the Bishop, to allow Jewish observancesat Hippo in the fifth century which S. Paul thoughtexpedient to allow in the first century, shows a lack

of historical imagination ;a rigorous application of

expediency without regard to altered circumstances.

After this reply to Augustine's criticism on the ex-

position of Galatians, Jerome turns to the Bishop'sremonstrance with him for translating the Scripturesdirect from the Hebrew.

Augustine had thrown his argument into the formof a syllogism.

2 Either the passages which the Greektranslators have rendered were obscure or they wereobvious. If they were obscure Jerome is as likely to

be mistaken as they were. If obvious, the Greektranslators could not have been mistaken.

Jerome replies with another example of the same

syllogism. Either the Scriptures which the ancient

expositors have interpreted were obscure or they wereobvious. If the former, why does Augustine presume

1 Letter 75, 18. 2 Letter 76, 20.


to think he can explain them any better? If the latter,

Augustine's expositions are superfluous. Jerome addsa formidable list of earlier expositors of the Psalms.

Yet in spite of this impressive array of authorities onthe Psalms, Augustine did not hesitate to add another

exposition which, as Jerome has already reminded the

author, he had read. Let Augustine allow other personsthe same freedom which he has exercised for himself.

All that Jerome has done is to let men know whatthe Hebrew original contains. If they had rather not

know, nothing compels them.1

As to the case cited by Augustine of the Bishop whointroduced Jerome's version of Jonah and had to with-

draw it rather than lose his congregation : that could

not alter the fact that the version was a faithful repro-duction of the original. If any Jews disputed it, that

only betrayed their malice or their ignorance.On this note of imperturbable confidence the letter

closes; not, however, without another disdainful expres-

sion, as of one bored to distraction by the ignorance of

his contemporaries. Jerome begs Augustine to let an

old man rest. Let the young man, set in pontifical dig-

nity, teach the crowds. As for Jerome, it is enoughfor him to whisper to one poor reader in the corner of

a monastery.It would scarcely be a matter for surprise if corre-

spondence ceased, or was, at least, temporarily interruptedafter such letters as these. But Jerome wrote again.It is quite possible that he did not realise the exas-

perating nature of his bitter and disdainful language.2

As a matter of fact, he wrote again to Augustine in the

following year (405) ;this time in a far gentler spirit,

even asking to be remembered to one of Augustine'sfriends and disciples, Bishop Alypius, but ending with

an unfortunate expression about playing in the fields

of Scripture.

1 Letter 75, 22. 2 Letter 81, A.D 404


To this letter Augustine replied,1harping, also most

unfortunately, on Jerome's closing word. Augustinetakes the word prosaically. He fails to see that the appar-ently frivolous expression may cover deep earnestness :

"Looking below light speech we utter

When frothy spume and frequent sputterProve that the soul's depths boil in earnest."

There is a curious lack of humour in Augustine'sremark that he is prepared for serious study not for

play. And he takes occasion to inform Jerome of his

profound conviction that no writer of the Canonical

Scriptures has committed any error in his writing. If

Augustine encounters any passage which seems con-

trary to the truth, then either the text is defective or

the translator misrepresents the original, or else the

reader has misunderstood the meaning. Doubtless

Jerome would not desire his writings to be treated

with the deference due to the prophetic and apostolic

Scriptures.

"Now," argues Augustine, "if I am bound in virtue

of your own life and character 2 to believe that youhave not written insincerely, much more am I bound to

maintain that the Apostle Paul believed what he wrotewhen he speaks of Peter not walking rightly accordingto the truth of the Gospel. Of whose sincerity can I

be sure if not of the sincerity of S. Paul? More espe-

cially is this the case where the Apostle has prefacedhis utterances with the solemn declaration :

* The thingswhich I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.'

"If any one maintains that it is better to believe that

the Apostle Paul 3 wrote something which is not true

than that the Apostle Peter did something which is not

right, this would be equivalent to saying that it is better

to believe that the Gospel relates what is false than to

1 Letter 82, A.D. 405.2 Letter 82, 4.

3 Letter 82, 5.


believe that S. Peter denied his Master. Thus reluct-

ance to believe that an exemplary and distinguished

person was occasionally to blame, leads men to bringthe whole of the Sacred Scriptures into suspicion."

This treatment of Scripture is, in Augustine's opinion,1

worse than what is done by the Manichaeans. For while

they indeed reject statements of Scripture, they do so

not on the ground that the apostolic statements are

erroneous but on the ground that the text has been

corrupted. It is quite another matter, and immeasur-

ably more serious, to charge the Apostles with affirmingwhat is false.

Jerome says it is incredible that S. Paul rebukedS. Peter for doing the very thing which he did himself. 2

Augustine replies :

"I am not now inquiring what

S. Paul did, but what S. Paul wrote. If S. Peter

acted rightly, then S. Paul has written what is false;

but if what S. Paul wrote is true, then it is true that

S. Peter was not then acting in accordance with the

truth of the Gospel.

Augustine maintains that S. Peter acted as he did

with a view to compel the Gentiles to live as Jews.3

Now there is no parallel between this and the conductof S. Paul in the case of Timothy, or in his conformityto Jewish observances at Jerusalem on S. James's advice.

S. Paul's occasional conformity to Jewish observances

was intended to refute the Jewish suspicion that he

regarded such observances as deadly.4

If the Council of Jerusalem had already taken place,5

then it was already decreed that no man should force

the Gentiles to Judaise. If, as Augustine himself

believed, the discussion between S. Paul and S. Peter

occurred before that Council met, none the less wasS. Paul anxious that S. Peter should openly professwhat he inwardly believed, for both Apostles really



5 Letter 82, 10.


agreed in principles. S. Paul was not teaching S. Peterwhat the faith was, but only rebuking his dissimulationin forcing the Gentiles to act as Jews.

Augustine can see no reason, in spite of Jerome's1

authority, why the Jewish observances are not to be

placed among things indifferent rather than amongthose that are intrinsically good or intrinsically bad.

This was his own opinion, for instance, with regard to

fasting on the Sabbath. It was a thing indifferent.

Observances which were not to be imposed on the

Gentile convert were not necessarily to be forbiddento the convert from Israel.

" But why may I not say regarding those institutions 2

of the old economy, that they are neither good nor bad :

not good since men are not by them justified, theyhaving been only shadows predicting the grace by whichwe are justified ;

and not bad since they were divinely

appointed as suitable both to the time and to the people ?

... I would esteem it a favour to be informed by yourSincerity, whether any saint, coming from the East to

Rome, would be guilty of dissimulation if he fasted onthe seventh day of each week, excepting the Saturdaybefore Easter. For if we say that it is wrong to fast onthe seventh day, we shall condemn not only the Churchof Rome, but also many other Churches, both neighbour-ing and more remote, in which the same custom con-

tinues to be observed . If on the other hand we pronounceit wrong not to fast on the seventh day, how great is

our presumption in censuring so many Churches in the

East, and by far the greater part of the Christian world !

Or do you prefer to say of this practice, that it is a thingindifferent in itself, but commendable in him who con-

forms with it, not as a dissembler, but from a seemlydesire for the fellowship and deference for the feelings of

others ? No precept, however, concerning this practiceis given to Christians in the Canonical Books. How

1 Letter 82, 10. 2 Letter 82, 14.


much more then may I shrink from pronouncing that to

be bad whicl^ I cannot deny to be of Divine institution :

this fact being admitted by me in the exercise of thesame faith by which I know that not through these

observances, but by the Grace of our Lord Jesus ChristI am justified."

1

Accordingly Augustine contends 2 that the Old Testa-ment regulations of ceremonial were predictions of the

Christian realities. On the advent of the realities the

former remained only to be studied but not to be anylonger observed. They were tolerated for a time, butwere not to be enforced for fear of being understood to

be conditions of salvation. S. Peter's fault consisted in

pretending to accept this view, which he did not reallyhold. Consequently S. Paul correctly criticised himfor not walking uprightly according to the truth of

the Gospel. There was no dissimulation in S. Paul's

conduct. He was perfectly frank. He could permitthe occasional observance of the Jewish ceremonies, buthe never imposed them as necessary.

But the time for such toleration of Jewish ceremonies 3

was long since past, and S. Paul's occasional permissionof them could no longer in Augustine's opinion befollowed in the fifth century.The case of S. Peter and S. Paul 4 raises the question

whether it is permissible to speak falsely on the groundof expediency. Is it at any time a Christian man's dutyto say what is false ? Augustine refers to S. Matt. v. 37,S. James v.12, Psalm v. 6. Is it not required in stewards

that a man be found faithful ?

Accordingly the true interpretation of the incident 5

is that S. Paul spoke with entire sincerity." And Peter

himself received, with the holy and loving humilitywhich became him, the rebuke which Paul, in the

interests of truth, and with the boldness of love admin-istered." Therein Peter left to those who came after

1Cunningham's translation, I. 327.

2 Letter 82, 15.3 Letter 82, 17.

* Letter 82, 21. 5 Letter 82, 22.


him an example, that, if at any time they deviated from

the right path, they should not think it beneath them to

accept correction from their juniors. On that occasion,

therefore, Paul was to be praised for upright courage,and Peter for holy humility.

Jerome had defended his opinionxby appeal to the

authority of seven other expositors. He had asked to

be allowed to remain in error in the company of such

distinguished people. But Augustine shrewdly observes

that four of these seven are questionable. For the in-

terpreter of Laodicea has, on Jerome's own admission,abandoned the Church

;Alexander is a former heretic,

also on Jerome's admission; Didymus and Origen are

both sharply criticised by Jerome himself, in recent

writings, and on matters of great importance. Three

only of his seven remain. And to those three Augus-tine opposes three others : Cyprian, Ambrose and S.

Paul himself. For S. Paul forbids us to ascribe to himdissimulation when he says :

" The things which I write

unto you, behold, before God, I lie not." Augustine,therefore is not at all overcome by Jerome's appeal to

authorities. He will not allow Jerome's right to be in

error with anybody.S. Paul's claim that to the Jews he became as a Jew,

2

and to the Gentiles as a Gentile, was to be understoodof sympathy and not of dissimulation. Augustineexplains this at considerable length.As to Jerome's severe charge

3 that Augustine hadsent a book to Rome against him, Augustine replies,

first, that it was not a book but a letter; secondly, that

it was not sent to Rome but to Jerome ; thirdly, that it

was not against him but only a friendly discussion. Asto the insinuation which Jerome discovered in the requestthat he would sing a palinode or recant, Augustineassures him that nothing could be farther from his

1 Letter 82, 23.2 Letter 82, 26.

3 Letter 82, 33.


intention. He asks Jerome's forgiveness for a mostunintentional offence. He humbly requests Jerome to

correct his mistakes." For although so far as the titles

of honour which prevail in the Church are concerned, a

bishop's rank is above that of a presbyter, nevertheless

in many things Augustine is inferior to Jerome."Augustine acknowledges that Jerome has convinced

him 1 that it is right to translate the Old Testamentfrom the original Hebrew. But he also asks for a copyof Jerome's translation from the Greek, of the existence

of which he was not aware. His only objection to

having the translation from the Hebrew read in Churchwas lest the revised version should cause disturbance

among the congregation.He is replying here 2 to three of Jerome's letters. He

promises to take greater precautions in future that his

letters may not fall into other hands, before reachingthe reader's to whom they are directed. He pleadsfor perfect frankness of discussion between them. But

only if this can be done without endangering brotherlylove.

Whether S. Jerome replied to Augustine's interpre-tation of this incident may be left uncertain. If he did

so no trace of the reply survives. But what is certain is

that the old student adopted the Bishop's view. Someten years after this correspondence with Augustine,

'Jerome wrote his treatise against the Pelagians (A.D.

415). Commenting on the text that a priest or bishopmust be blameless, Jerome takes occasion to remarkthat if S. Paul says that S. Peter walked not rightly in

accordance with the truth of the Gospel, and was so far

to blame that even Barnabas was carried away by his

dissimulation, what person can wonder if he is not

credited with that blamelessness which even the chief of

the Apostles did not possess ?3

1 Letter 82, 34.2 Letter 82, 36.

3Jerome's Works, Vallarsi's Edition, II. 702, Dialogus Con-

tra Pelagianos, i. 22.


No mention is made of Augustine in this place. Butat the close of the whole work the Bishop of Hippo is

mentioned by name and in terms of admiration.

Augustine repeated his exposition in his treatise

against Falsehood which was probably published after

Jerome's death.

The whole story of this disputed interpretation is

admirably given in a masterly summary by S. Thomas.He points out that between Augustine and Jerome there

were four differences of opinion as to the incident in

Galatians.

1. The first difference was, that Jerome distinguished

history into two periods : before Christ and afterwards;

and held that the Law was beneficial in the former, anddisastrous in the latter. Augustine,however,distinguishedthree periods : (i) Before Christ; (2) immediately after

Christ;and (3) the subsequent ages ;

and held that the

Law was not disastrous in the case of converted Jews in

the Apostolic Age, and that there was no sin in its

observance, always provided that they did not placetheir hope of salvation in it. Augustine's reason is, that

if the Jews on their conversion had been forbidden all

the Mosaic observances, this prohibition would have set

the Jewish Law on a level with idolatrous observances.

2. The second difference between Augustine and

Jerome concerned the Apostles. Jerome held that the

Apostles never in reality observed the Law, but simu-

lated observance in order to avoid giving offence. ThusS. Paul's discharging a vow in the Temple, or circum-

cising Timothy, or conforming with S. James's directions

as to legal customs, was all done from mere motives

of diplomacy and expediency and not from a religious

spirit. Augustine on the contrary held that the Apostles

sincerely meant what they were doing when they con-

formed to the Mosaic requirement, only they never

regarded such observances as in any way necessary to

salvation. This attitude was justifiable in a period of

transition.


3. The third difference between Augustine and Jeromeconcerned the conduct of S. Peter. Jerome held that

Peter's dissimulation was not a sin because it was not

prompted by fear but by charity. Augustine held that

it was a sin although a venial one. For Peter unwiselyattached himself overmuch to the Jewish side. S.

Thomas holds that Augustine's argument is strongerthan that of Jerome. For Jerome indeed adducesseven authorities in support of himself. But of these

authorities four are questionable because the writers

were addicted to heresy. Whereas Augustine, to Jerome'sremaining three, produces three others. And Augus-tine's three defenders are Ambrose, Cyprian and S. Paulhimself. For S. Paul said that Peter was to be blamed.That judgment cannot be set aside. The opinion of

Augustine is the truer because it agrees with the Apostle'swords.

4. The fourth and last difference between Augustineand Jerome is concerned with the action of S. Paul.

Jerome said that S. Paul did not really rebuke S. Peter,but only simulated a rebuke. Thus, according to Jerome,there was dissimulation on both sides. Augustine main-

tained that Peter seriously observed the Law andS. Paul seriously rebuked him

;and that S. Peter sinned

in keeping it because he scandalised the Gentiles, while

S. Paul did not sin in rebuking him, because no scandal

was involved in the rebuke. 1

The question of the Origin of the Soul was muchdebated in the Church of the early fifth century.

Rufmus, priest of Aquileia, had summarised three dis-

tinct theories about it while writing on Origen in 398.

Jerome fell on Rufinus, with extraordinary ferocity and

scorn, for admitting that he was ignorant which of these

theories was true.2 But, while Jerome severely criticised

1 S. Thomas, Comment, in Galat. Lectio III. Works, ParmaEdit. T. XIII. 396.

2Apol. S. Hieron. adv. Lit. Rufini, ii. 8. Works, I. 497.

Q


another writer in this spirit, he omitted to say which

theory he himself maintained. Nevertheless Jeromehad written elsewhere, on the words of Ecclesiastes :

" Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, andthe spirit shall return unto God who gave it" (Eccles.xii. 7), the following comment: "Hereby they are con-

vinced of folly who think that souls are transmitted

together with bodies, and do not come from God but are

generated from the bodies of their parents."x

Some years after his controversial attack on Rufinus

Jerome was requested by persons of distinction in Africa

to explain the problem of the Origin of the Soul. Marcel-

linus, Augustine's friend, the same who presided over

the Donatist Conference in 410, had already tried to

get the Bishop to solve his difficulties. But Augustineconfessed himself unprepared. Thereupon Marcellinus

wrote to Jerome, who replied in 41 2.2 There were

several theories concerning this difficult problem of the

soul's origin. It was questioned whether it descendedfrom Heaven, as the Platonists taught and Origen with

them;or whether it was part of the substance of God,

as the Stoics and Manichaeans and the Priscillianists in

Spain believed;or whether it was kept in some Divine

treasury long ago established, which Jerome thinks a

foolish notion;or whether it is created for each separate

body and incorporated within it;or whether it is trans-

mitted from parents like the body, as Tertullian, Apol-linaris, and the greater part of the Western Churchbelieved.

After enumerating all these perplexing varieties of

opinion (which might have been far more simply stated,

for the real problem of the period was whether the soul

was created or transmitted), Jerome refers his readers

to his criticisms against Rufinus, and says that he has

given his own opinion there. But as a matter of fact

1 Works, III. 493. Vallarsi. Verona, 1755.2 Letter 165 among Augustine's ;

Letter 126 among Jerome's.


this is exactly what he has not done. He then adviseshis correspondent to apply to Augustine,

" who will give

you his opinion, or rather mine, in his own words." This

again was exactly what Augustine would not do : partlybecause his mind was in suspense, and partly becausehe leaned towards Traducianism, since he saw that the

Creationist theory was hard to reconcile with the doctrine

of Original Sin.

Here Jerome left the subject of his letter and wenton to speak of his troubles and his studies. He hadbeen engaged in writing a Commentary on Ezekiel.

Then came the awful news of the Fall of Rome. Jeromewas so overwhelmed by the calamity that, according to

the proverb, he hardly knew his own name. He sat

long in silence and in tears. Then he roused himself

to write part of his Commentary. Then came an out-

break of violence in Palestine and at Bethlehem itself.

Jerome himself was in danger, but by the mercy of

Christ he was enabled to escape. If laws are suspendedin war-time, how much more is the study of Scripture,which requires a multitude of books, and silence, and

uninterrupted calm, and the labours of secretaries?

However, Jerome has sent a copy of his work to

Fabiola, from whom Marcellinus can get it if he

wishes.

Jerome adds further details in his Commentary on

Ezekiel. There he relates how the Fall of Rome wasfollowed by the appearance of refugees, men and womenof the highest rank from Rome, reduced to beggary,

hoping at least to find security from the terrors of

barbarian invasion in the sacred places of Palestine.

Jerome was forced by sheer compassion to lay aside his

studies and weep with those that wept. He must, he

says, turn Scripture words into deeds, and instead of

saying holy things attempt to do them. 1

Augustine was informed by Marcellinus that he had

1 Preface to Book III. on Ezekiel. Works, Tom. V. 80.


received Jerome's reply. And this led Augustine himself

to write his letter on the subject to Jerome.The bearer of Augustine's letter was the historian

Paul Orosius.

Paul Orosius, a young priest belonging to the Churchin Spain, had been sent to Africa to consult Augustineon the heresies of the Priscillianists,

1 which at that timedistressed the Spanish Communion. Augustine was

impressed by the young priest's earnestness and zeal,

and sent him on to Jerome at Bethlehem with a

letter." Behold a religious young man has come to me,

2by

name Orosius, who is in the bond of Catholic peace a

brother, in point of age a son, and in honour a fellow

presbyter : a man of quick understanding, ready speechand burning zeal, desiring to be in the Lord's House a

vessel rendering useful service in refuting those false

and pernicious doctrines, through which the souls of

men in Spain have suffered much more grievous woundsthan have been afflicted on their bodies by the swordof barbarism. For from the remote western coast of

Spain he has come with eager haste to us, having been

prompted to do this by the report that from us he could

learn whatever he wished on the subjects on which he

desired information. Nor has his coming been altogetherin vain. In the first place, he has learned not to believe

all that report affirmed of me;in the next place, I have

taught him all I could, and as for the things in whichI could not teach him, I have told him from whom he

may learn them, and have exhorted him to go onto you."

3

With this letter of introduction Orosius visited S.

Jerome at Bethlehem.The doctrines concerning the soul 4 which Augustine

regarded as incontestable were as follows :

1cf. S. Leo, Letter 15.

2cf. S. Augustine, Letter 166, A.D. 415.

3 S. Augustine, Letter 166. 4 Letter 166, 3.


1. The soul is immortal.

2. The soul is not a part of God.

3. The soul is immaterial.

4. The soul is sinful and fallen.

5. The soul cannot deliver itself.

6. The soul's salvation depends on our Redeemer.

7. The soul's redemption can only be secured byBaptismal Regeneration.

These doctrines being regarded as fundamental l and

beyond dispute, the problem is : Whence has the soul

contracted guilt of original sin, guilt from which it can

only be delivered by the sacrament of Christian Grace ?

Augustine tells Jerome that in his treatise on Freewill (which appeared in A.D. 395 and had been widelycirculated), four different opinions were mentioned con-

cerning the Origin of the Soul1. That all other souls are derived from the soul of

Adam.2. That at each birth a new soul is created.

3. That pre-existing souls are sent into each newhuman body.

4. That pre-existing souls enter new bodies of their

own accord.

Augustine enumerates these four opinions. But in

reality he reduces them to two : Either the soul is

transmitted, and exists prior to the body ;or else the

soul is created simultaneously with the body. Thetwo alternative theories are called Traducianism andCreationism.To appreciate the letter before us and Augustine's

interest in the problem, it must be remembered that hewas now in the thick of the Pelagian controversy. The

problem of Original Sin confronted him. The doctrine

of Original Sin was obviously greatly affected by the

question of the Origin of the Soul. If the soul of each

new child was transmitted from the soul of the primitive

1 Letter 166, 6.


man the share of the race in the losses of Adam was

intelligible. But if the soul of each new child was newlycreated, then the body alone was inherited but not the

spiritual nature. How then could a newly created soul

become contaminated by moral evil with which it wasin no way whatever connected? Therefore Augustine'sdecided preference was for the theory of Traducianism.But he finds that Jerome has in his writings advocatedCreationist ideas. He discusses the Creationist theory,and explains what he conceives to be its strong pointsand also its difficulties.

Jerome maintained, then, that a new soul is created at

each human birth.

If it was objected to this, that at the Creation Godfinished His work and rested, Jerome would refer to

Christ's words," My Father worketh hitherto." That

was what Jerome told Marcellinus (cf. Letter 165).Marcellinus had found Augustine unwilling to be dog-matic on the subject, and therefore wrote to Jeromefor something more decided. Jerome, however, referred

him back to Augustine. Augustine now tells Jeromefrankly that he is in a state of indecision on this

problem." You have sent to me scholars, to whom you wish

me to impart what I have not yet learned myself.Teach me, therefore, what I am to teach them

;for

many urge me vehemently to be a teacher on this

subject, and to them I confess that of this, as well as

of many other things, I am ignorant."

Supposing, then, Creationism to be the true theory,can Jerome explain why infants require remission of sin

in the Sacrament of Christ? Or, if there is no sin in

them, why are infants who die unbaptised excludedfrom salvation ? That was Augustine's difficulty, created

by the traditional belief: which was not only the positiveaffirmation that the baptised are saved, but the negativeaffirmation that the unbaptised are lost. How can this

exclusion from salvation of the infant dying unbaptised


be harmonised with the justice of God ? That was the

problem as it struck Augustine and his contemporaries.Augustine held (i) that the fate of an infant dying un-

baptised is perdition, (2) but also that God cannot punishthe innocent. Consequently he was bound to ask whatis the proof that Creationism is true.

Augustine agrees with Jerome1 that the Creationist

theory of the soul's origin is by no means refuted fromthe text that God finished His work at the Creation.

The Creation was the bringing into existence that

which had none. But the text," My Father worketh

hitherto," means that God continues to fashion pre-

existing material. Thus Genesis and S. John's Gospeldo not contradict but agree.

2 It is undeniable that Godcontinues to make at the present time many thingswhich did not exist before.

Another objection against Creationism 3 was that in

the case of an illegitimate birth this theory makes Godcreate a soul in response to human sin. Jerome's answerwas that nature need not refuse to mature the wheatbecause the grain was stolen. Augustine commendedthis answer. He felt that the method of Providence was

constantly out of ill to bring forth good.But there are difficulties in the Creationist theory

which Augustine owns he is unable to solve.

He was profoundly moved by the sufferings of infants

in the present life.4 But he sees that this may turn to

good account in the parents, whose power of compassionmay be developed in this way ( 18), and who may be

chastened through this means\gf*A 13). Faith may

also leave the problem unsolved in the hands of Provi-

dence (ib.}. Moreover, who can tell what recompenseGod may reserve in the after life for these afflictions?

( i8).5

Augustine quotes from his discussion of this

subject in his treatise on Free Will.

1 Letter 166, n. 2 Letter 166, 12.3 Letter 166, 15.

4 Letter 166, 16.5 Letter 166, 18.


All this, however, can only apply to infants who will

hereafter be saved. 1 It is no answer to the problem of

those who die unbaptised and will be lost.2 Now noman can be redeemed except in Christ. To say that

children who depart this life without the Sacrament of

Baptism shall nevertheless be made alive in Christ, is, in

Augustine's view, to contradict the Apostolic teaching,and to condemn the practice of the Universal Church.It was certain that no one could be saved unless madealive in Christ. And Augustine saw no possibility of

their being made alive except through the Sacramentof Baptism. He seems to have held not only that the

Church is tied to observance of Christ's Ordinance andcannot confer life except through the Sacrament, but

also that Christ Himself is so bound to the Sacramentas to be unable to confer the gift except through the

outward means. Grant His premises and his logic is

irreproachable. And those premises are no doubt what

Jerome would have granted.Thus the difficulties of Creationism remain unsolved.

This letter to Jerome was followed by another,3 in

which Augustine asked to be told what was the mean-

ing of the passage in S. James ii. 10 :

" Whosoever shall

keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is

guilty of all." The letter is a lengthy disquisition onthe idea that virtues must co-exist, and that all sins are

not of equal gravity.These two treatises of Augustine, the one on the

Origin of the Soul, the other on the Teaching of S. James(Letters 166 and 167), arrived safely at Bethlehem.

Jerome replied in a highly laudatory but curiouslycautious and reserved epistle,

4 in which he announcesthat Orosius has arrived and has been received in

accordance with Augustine's request. But they havefallen on hard times, wherein silence is better than

speech. Study is at an end. They are leading a dog's1 Letter 166, 20. 2 Letter 166, 21.8 Letter 167.

4 Letter 172, A.D. 416.


life at Bethlehem. It seems as if Jerome, who had

plenty to say about recent Pelagian movements in^

Palestine and the character of Bishop John of Jeru-

salem, thought it more prudent not to commit himself

to writing. He preferred to send the news by mes-

senger when Orosius returned. Jerome has received

the two treatises which Augustine sent him. They are

very learned and brilliantly eloquent. But Jerome is

not able to reply."Not," says the old student,

" that

he finds anything meriting rebuke in them, but that

every man has his own opinion." Augustine has pro-duced all the available Scripture evidence on the sub-

ject which he discusses. But Jerome would rather be

permitted to praise the Bishop's ability. Moreover it

would never do to let envious people and, above all,

heretical people, see difference of opinion between

Augustine and Jerome. Jerome is resolved to be de-

votedly attached to Augustine, to venerate him, and to

defend Augustine's utterances as if they were his own.

Jerome informs Augustine that he has given the Bishopan honourable mention in a treatise lately published

against the Pelagians (Book III. 19). It is urgently

necessary that Augustine and Jerome should combineto drive out this most deadly heresy from the Church.

Pelagianism is always pretending penitence in order to

retain the right to teach within the Church. It is afraid

to be brought out into the light, for fear it should be

expelled or perish.

Jerome closes with various salutations, and adds a

postscript to the effect that he cannot send Augustinehis critical Latin text of the Old Testament, because

transcribers familiar with Latin are scarce in Palestine.

The problem of the Origin of the Soul is discussed

by Augustine in a letter 1 written to Bishop Optatusfrom Caesarea, in Mauritania, whither he had been sent

by Pope Zosimus on some business connected with the

Roman See.1 Letter 190, A.D. 418.


Starting with facts beyond dispute, Augustine saysthat the soul is not body, but spirit; not part of God,but created.

Then he raises the grave problem : Why God created

souls whose destiny, as He foreknew, would be perdition.

Augustine here gives expression to his Predestinarian

theories. If God had only created souls who would beredeemed no concrete illustration would have existed

of the state from which redemption delivered men.There would only be illustrated what the redeemed

enjoyed but not what they escaped. The full benefit of

Redemption would be concealed from lack of examples.Augustine went further than this. He thought that

the number 1 of the lost would immeasurably exceedthat of the redeemed. And this belief does not appearto have disturbed him. Their destiny was just, andGod was not concerned about their numbers.

There was only one way out of damnation, this wasthe Sacrament of the Mediator.2

But here the problem of the Origin of the Soul comesin.

3For, as Pelagius argued, if each soul is a separate

creation, and the body only is derived from Adam, howcould the soul be condemned by the mere entrance into

the body? But if the soul is transmitted to the child

from its parents, how can it be responsible for another

person's sin ? And how can God, Who forgives our

actual transgressions, impute to us a sin which we

personally never committed ?

Here Augustine speaks with characteristic humilityand caution. No man must be ashamed to confess his

ignorance, lest by professing to know what he does not

know he dooms himself to perpetual ignorance.4 In

questions whose inherent obscurity surpasses our powers,and where Scripture does not come to our aid, it is onlyrashness for human presumption to define.

1 Letter 190, n. 2 Letter 190, 13.* Letter 190, 14 and 15.

4 Letter 190, 16.


Nothing certain can be ascertained from Scriptureconcerning the origin of individual souls. 1

Augustinerefers to his previous correspondence with Jerome, whoheld the Creationist view

;while Traducianism was the

opinion of the Western Church.2

Augustine desires his writing on the subject to betaken as the work of an inquirer, not of a teacher. Hedeclines to dogmatise. But he is obviously more dis-

posed to believe that each soul is transmitted rather

than a fresh creation, since the Traducianist theoryagrees with the doctrine of Original Sin, and with the

Pauline doctrine that by man came death, and that in

Adam all die.

Meanwhile he falls back on the declaration of PopeZosimus where the Traducian theory is maintained, andthe doctrine reaffirmed that there is no deliverance

except through the Mediator, and that deliverance is

only conferred upon the baptised.3

After all, it is better that the problem of the Originof Souls should remain obscure than that God should

be supposed the author of sin, or that the baptism of

infants should be regarded as meaningless.4

Towards the close of A.D. 419, Jerome wrote to Augus-tine 5 another letter, which he sent by the presbyterInnocent who was to have carried letters to Africa

from Palestine the year before, but failed. Jeromewrites this time in an amiable mood. He is always

glad, he says, of a reason for writing to Augustine.If it were possible he would take the wings of a doveand fly to Africa. Alypius and Augustine are to

accept his congratulations because by their efforts the

Celestian heresy has been throttled. It has been a

widespread and deadly poison. Jerorrfe announces the

death of the lady Eustochia. He speaks with profound1 Letter 190, 17.2 Letter 190, 20. (See Letters 143, 165, 166.)* Letter 190, 23.

4 Letter 190, 24.5 Letter 202, A.D. 419.


disgust of the miserable Synod of Diospolis (i.e. the

Palestinian Council, in which the Bishops were misled bythe plausible profession of the Pelagians). Jerome sends

greetings from Albina, Pinian and Melania (whose visit

to Africa in 41 1 had led to the sensational scene in the

Church at Hippo: see Letter 124). Paula also greetshim.

In the year 420 Augustine wrote to Optatus, Bishopof Milevis,

1telling him that the letters sent to Jerome

cannot be published at present, since there is still hopethat Jerome may send an explanation of the problemsconcerning the Origin of the Soul. Five years, indeed,have elapsed since Augustine wrote to Bethlehem, buthe has not abandoned hope that an answer may yetarrive. He tells Optatus the contents of Jerome's brief

reply, and points out that there is no refusal to consider

the subjects set before him. Consequently Augustinemust wait. He cannot publish his letter yet. To dothat would give reasonable ground for complaint.

Jerome might think him actuated by motives of self-

display, rather than by serious desire to ascertain the

truth.

Augustine infers from Jerome's letter that his friend

does not decline his inquiries ;that he is well-disposed

towards him;and was anxious to avoid the appearance

of public controversy between them. He hopes the

result will be that his successors will see how brothers

in affection may dispute on a difficult question and yet

preserve each other's esteem. Augustine writes with dis-

cretion. The rugged old student of Bethlehem requiredto be carefully dealt with.

Meanwhile Augustine has much to say to Optatus.For Optatus has been criticising adversely those whomaintain the Traducianist theory of the soul's origin.

Augustine frankly owns :

"I must admit I have so far

1 Letter 202 B., p. 1146. (This letter is among Jerome's,No. 144 Works, I. 1062.)

LETTERS TO ST, JEROME 253

failed to discover how the soul can derive its sin fromAdam (a truth which it is unlawful to question) and yetnot itself be derived from Adam. At present I think

it better to sift the matter further than to dogmatiserashly."

Therefore he would be glad to know what scripturalbasis Optatus can find for rejecting the Traducian theory.If Traducianism is rejected, it becomes necessary to

explain how a soul is provided for the body. Is it a

separate creation ? For doubtless Optatus does not

credit the theory of transmigration, which Origen andPriscillian taught, that souls have pre-existed in a former

world and are placed in the body in accordance withtheir deserving. That theory is refuted by the scripturewhich says that Jacob and Esau before their birth haddone neither good nor evil.

If Optatus has scripture testimonies to produceagainst Traducianism would he let Augustine have them ?

Traducianism does not imply, as Optatus seems to think,that God is not the Creator of the soul, any more thanit does in the case of the body. Optatus admits that

Traducianism has been held by some of his predecessors.

Augustine would be glad to know upon what groundsthey founded their belief.

Meanwhile of course hesitation and uncertainty are

justified. It is curious to contrast Augustine here with

Jerome's reckless and reasonless contempt of Rufinus

for hesitating between the opposing views.

Augustine says :

<: Now when we have reason to be

doubtful about a point, we need not doubt that we are

right in doubting. There is no doubt that we oughtto doubt things that are doubtful

"( 8). Augustine

illustrates S. Paul's doubtfulness whether it was in the

body or out of the body that he was carried up into the

third heaven. " Why may not I then, so long as I haveno light, doubt whether my soul came to me by genera-tion or unengendered ? Christ said of certain matters,'

It is not for you to know.' What if Christ, Who


knows what is expedient for us, knows this knowledgenot to be expedient ?

"

Hence, as at present advised, Augustine is unable to

decide. Meanwhile he restates his own perplexity. It

is this :

" Can a soul derive original sin from a source

from which it is not itself derived?" ( 10). There is

Augustine's real interest in the problem of the soul's

origin : its bearing on the Pelagian Controversy.This letter to Optatus was written in 420. This year

is said to have been the year of Jerome's death.

Jerome's death removed any need for delay in publish-

ing Augustine's own letters. The Bishop now freelycirculated them.1

1 See Retract. 11-45.

CHAPTER VIII

LETTERS TO WOMEN

AUGUSTINE'S " Letters to Women "may well be

grouped together, because they help to illustrate the

position occupied by women in Church Life at the close

of the fourth century and beginning of the fifth.

They were written to Ecdicia, a married woman;to

Sapida, a religious ;to Maxima, to Seleuciana, to a

studious girl, Florentina; to Italica, on the Vision of

God;to Melania, a refugee in Africa after the Fall of

Rome;

to Proba, widow of the Consul;to Juliana,

widowed mother of the religious Demetrias;to Paulina

on the Vision of God;to Felicitas, Prioress of a Con-

vent;to a religious Community of Women

;to Fabiola.

There is an impressive letter written by Augustinex

to Ecdicia, a married woman who had alienated her

husband. She desired to live with him as a sister andnot as a wife. To this proposal she had induced him to

consent. She then insisted on dressing like a widow, or

in a costume appropriate to one who has no husband at

all. To this he objected. She went further still, andwithout consulting him gave away his possessions in

alms to two monks. On discovering what she was

doing he made some furious remarks on monks, aban-doned her, and went to live with another woman.She then applied to Augustine. If she expected

approval of her conduct she was entirely mistaken. Hetells her that she was wrong in the first instance because

1 Letter 262.

255

256 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINEI

she lived with her husband as a sister and not as a wife,while he was reluctant that it should be so. No suchmanner of life is lawful for married persons unless bytheir own mutual consent. Augustine refers her to

S. Paul's teaching on the duties of the married (ini Cor. viii. 1-17), which he insinuates she has either notheard or not realised. He maintains that if by mutualconsent a vow of self-restraint has been taken, it ought,

being a mutual self-dedication to God, to be kept per-

severingly. But he only gives this advice on the under-

standing that consent has been given. Otherwise the

married woman is absolutely prohibited from registering

any such determination.

Augustine then proceeds to deal with the duty of

humility and obedience in domestic life. She was

entirely wrong to ofTend her husband in matters of

dress. She was quite wrong again in giving away his

possessions in alms to the monks without his know-

ledge or consent. She has deprived her husband of

sharing in charitable deeds to which if she had acted

otherwise she might have gently led him. Augustineasks her whether any person's temporal advantage is

more precious to her than her husband's eternal advan-

tage. If she had been more considerate, would she not

rather have postponed her gifts to the poor lest shescandalised her husband and caused him to recoil from

religion ? Let her only think what she would have

gained if she had gained her husband. Which is the

greater : to break one's bread to the hungry or to deliver

a soul from the devil ?

Augustine contends that a married woman has no

right to say"

I will do what I will with my own." Thatwas contrary to S. Peter's teaching (i Pet. iii. 5-6).

Moreover there was the child to be considered. Amother has no ri^ht to give away in charity what wouldbecome the property of her son. Augustine remindsher of the apostolic words :

"If any provideth not for

his own, and especially his own household, he hath

LETTERS TO WOMEN 257

denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever"

(I Tim. v. 8).

Augustine tries to enable her to realise that it was notunnatural that her husband should object to her dressinglike a widow while he was alive.

The Bishop concludes by exhorting her very earnestlyto be humble-minded, to care lest her husband perish,to prny for her husband, to write to him and ask his

forgiveness because she has sinned against him, and to

promise in future that if he will keep his vow of self-

restraint, she will serve him in all things. Meantimethere is no need to tell her that her son is rather in his

father's control than in hers.

Sapida was a woman dedicated to the religious life.1

When her brother died she sent a tunic which had

belonged to him as a present to Augustine.

Augustine accepted it, and writes to say that he is

wearing it, in deference to Sapida's request ;since she

says it would be a comfort to her, and he does not wish

to hurt her feelings. But Augustine never liked peopleto make him presents which would in any way distinguishhim from other people.

In one of his sermons 2 he explained his reasons for

this. Costly robes were sometimes sent him as suitable

to his episcopal position." But it is not becoming for

Augustine," he said, "who is poor, and who is the son

of poor parents. Would you have men say that in the

Church I found means to obtain richer clothing than I

could in my father's house, or in the pursuit of secular

employment ? That would be a shame to me."

He went on to tell the congregation that if such gifts

were sent they would be sold for the benefit of the

Community."

I assure you that a costly dress makesme blush, because it is not in harmony with myprofession, or with such exhortations as I now give you,

1 Letter 263.* Sermon 356.

2 5 S THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

and ill becomes one whose frame is bent, and whoselocks are whitened, as you see, by age."

A lady named Maxima wrote to Augustine1 com-

plaining that erroneous doctrine was being taught in

her neighbourhood. The letter does not say where she

lived. She was apparently presiding over others in a

religious Community. The erroneous doctrine was

clearly concerning the Incarnation. Augustine assures

her that what she holds is true : namely, that the Son of

God took human nature complete, that is, both a rational

soul and mortal flesh, without sin. If she possesses anywritings which contradict this faith Augustine asks herto send them to him. False doctrines are frequentlybased on misunderstandings of Scripture. And it is

most important that the erroneous character of such

interpretations should be demonstrated. If Maximawishes to possess any of Augustine own writings let her

send a messenger for copies of them.

A lady named Seleuciana had encountered a sup-

porter2 of the austere Novatianist theory that while the

repentance of the unbaptised could be accepted bythe Church, no such concession could be made in the

case of deadly sins committed after Baptism. Thisfollower of Novatian held that S. Peter's penance for his

denial of Christ was the act of an unbaptised person.

Augustine replies that it is true that when Peter

denied our Lord the Apostle had not yet been baptisedwith the Holy Spirit. For our Lord Himself said to

them after His Resurrection," Ye shall be baptised with

the Holy Ghost not many days hence."

But if we say that the Apostles had not yet been

baptised with water, we may be encouraging men to dis-

parage Baptism, which the apostolic practice shows to bea deplorable error, since S. Peter expressly ordered Cor-

nelius, who had received the Holy Spirit, to be baptised.1 Letter 264.

2 Letter 265.


Augustine accordingly maintains that the case of

Baptism was similar to that of Circumcision. Bothbecame essential only after they were divinely ordained.But after that Christ had taught that except a manbe born of water and of the Holy Spirit he cannot enterinto the Kingdom of God, it is not necessary to ascertain

the precise date of an individual's baptism. The veryfact that persons are within the Body of Christ, that is,

the Church, and belonging to the Kingdom of Heaven,and their very position shows that they are baptised.The only exception to this is the case where personsovertaken by martyrdom had no opportunity to be

baptised. In which case their passion is to be considered

equivalent. But that exception is inapplicable to the

Apostles. Those who had plenty of time to baptiseothers had time themselves to be baptised. But not

everything that was transacted is recorded. Thebaptism of S. Paul is recorded. That of the other

Apostles is not. But that they were baptised ought notto be doubted, because it is required by Christ's

command.The disciples were already baptised with the Baptism

of S. John Baptist. So many think. Or was it not

the Baptism of Christ which they received ? Augustinethinks this more credible. He thinks that Christ Him-self baptised the Apostles. He who washed their feet

would not shrink from this ministration, in order that

His servants, through whom He baptised others, should

themselves be baptised. This seems implied in Christ's

words to S. Peter :

" He that is washed needeth not save

to wash his feet, but is clean every whit" (John xiii. 10).

To Augustine's mind that shows that S. Peter was

already baptised.When this adherent of Novatian maintains, as

Seleuciana reports, that the Apostles taught penitencenot Baptism, he is not ineligible. Penitence is a

condition of Baptism. But it is necessary for sin after

Baptism as well as before it.


If he means that the Apostles substituted repentancefor Baptism, and that the repentant were not baptised,

Augustine is not aware that any Novatianists say so.

Seleuciana should inquire carefully whether this is beingmaintained. Perhaps the disputer is not a Novatianist

at all, or only thinks he is. In any case what is certain

is. that the theory is foreign to the rule of Catholic faith,

and to the teachings of Christ and His Apostles.

There is extant a letter from Augustine1 to a stu-

dious girl offering to help her in her studies. He had

corresponded with Florentina's mother and desired to

encourage the daughter in religious learning. Hehears that Florentina did not like to write unless the

Bishop wrote and gave permission. Augustine assures

her that he will do his best to answer any questions she

may send him. If the Bishop knows the answer he will

send it. If he does not know, and the ignorance is not

detrimental to faith and safety, he will if he can set her

mind at rest. If it is a matter which he does not know,and yet which ought to be known, he will pray for

enlightenment, that he may not fail her;and will reply

in such terms that she may know in matters whereboth are ignorant to whom they both must look for

understanding.

A very curious light is thrown on African Church life2

in the letters written to Pinian and Melania. Melania washeiress of one of the wealthiest houses in Rome, and hadlived with her husband, Pinian, in one of its finest palaces,until the calamitous invasion of the Goths under Alaric

in 410. Like many others of the Roman aristocracy she

took refuge in Africa, where also she had large estates.

Here she sold much of her property and gave awaylavishly to the Churches and Monasteries and the poor,

especially in Thagaste, where she lived in religious

austerity, and where Alypius, Augustine's friend, was

1 Letter 266. 2 Letter 124, A.D. 411.


Bishop. Augustine wrote to Melania and Pinian wel-

coming them into Africa and excusing himself from

paying them a visit : advancing years prevented himfrom facing the rigorous winter which his weak andsensitive constitution was at no time able to bear.

Even if that had not been the case his restless andturbulent people would not permit his absence. Theresult of this letter was, that Pinian and Melania, togetherwith Bishop Alypius, paid a visit to Augustineat Hippo.Hereupon followed an extraordinary scene. TheCathoKcs of Hippo were assembled in Church whenthese distinguished visitors, whose reputation had

preceded them, entered the building. As soon as theywere recognised the people shouted to Augustine, callingon him to ordain Pinian to the priesthood. It seemsthat Augustine had anticipated the possible rise of somesuch disturbance, for he immediately informed the

people, as soon as he could make himself heard, that hehad promised Pinian not to ordain him against his will

;

adding that if his promise were broken the people mighthave Pinian as their presbyter, but they would no

longer have Augustine as their bishop. That warningsubdued the people for a moment. But they soon brokeout more fiercely than before. Pinian was terrified.

Augustine feared for -the safety of his visitors. Thewildness of the African nature was roused. Everymoment Augustine expected this fanatical outburst

might end in murder. Augustine stood in helplessindecision. He dared not leave the Church for fear of

danger to his guests. But he was perfectly powerlessto protect them. Meanwhile the people turned furiouslyon Bishop Alypius, and accused him of frustrating their

demand through sordid motives, and only because hewanted to retain a rich man in his congregation at

Thagaste. In the midst of this outrageous confusion

Pinian sent a messenger to Augustine, to say that if he

was ordained against his will he swore that he would

depart from Africa. But Augustine had not the


courage to tell the people this. He sent no answer,and in his perplexity consulted Alypius, who washed his

hands of the whole affair and replied" Don't ask me."

Thereupon Augustine obtained silence and informedthe people. They immediately demanded that Pinian

should promise that he would reside at Hippo, and that

if he were ordained at all it should be for that Church.To this demand Pinian yielded. With Augustine's con-

sent he vowed that he would keep this engagement.Peace was then restored and the congregation dispersed.

But peace was not secured beyond the precincts.Pinian and Melania and their relatives made serious

accusations of sordid motives against Augustine's peopleif not against Augustine himself.

But the most singular part of the incident is Augus-tine's defence. 1 He insisted with the utmost solemnitythat the promise must be kept. He admitted that it

was made under the influence of fear; none the less

he appealed to the example of the Pagan Regulus, whoswore to the Carthaginian that he would rebel, and

kept his oath, although its fulfilment meant torture

and death. Augustine quoted the Psalm "he that

sweareth unto his neighbour and disappointeth himnot." Augustine urged that unless he and Alypiusrequired the fulfilment of this promise they must not

expect any man to credit their promises any more.He insisted that an awful Divine retribution wouldfollow on perjury, and prayed that from such tempta-tions Providence would deliver them. He allowed no

weight to the terrorising influence of a fanatical African

people, although he confessed that at the time he fully

expected that some one would be murdered before the

day was done. He repudiated indignantly the sordid

construction which had been placed upon the conductof his people.

One of the wealthiest and most distinguished families

1 Letter 125.

LETTERS TO WOMEN- 263

in Rome about the year 400 was the family of Proba.She was widow of a Consul. Three of her sons attained

to consular dignity. Jerome said that this was a

dignity which hardly any one of her family missed.1

The family is commemorated in the poems of Pruden-tius. Her husband was baptised when near his deathand buried near the apse of S. Peter at the Vatican.2

Proba was the mother of Juliana, whose daughterDemetrias set the example, to the astonishment of

Rome, of taking the veil early in the fifth century.Proba was in correspondence with most of the greatChurchmen of the time, including Jerome, Chrysostomand Augustine. Chrysostom wrote commending to her

care a priest and deacon who had travelled to Rome.This was in 4o6.

3

But in 410 came the sack of Rome by Alaric. Probaand Juliana and Demetrias took flight to Africa. As

they were setting sail they could see the smoke of the

burning city. They reached Africa safely, but Heraclian,Count of Africa, an avaricious and unscrupulous person,extorted a great sum from them before allowing themto settle in security.

4

Jerome has given a graphic description of Demetrias

professing the religious life. How she dressed herself

in coarse attire and went to her mother and grand-mother and confessed her wjsh to take the veil

;how

both these religious women wept for gladness. Jeromehere grows eloquent in the fervour of his approval."Every Church in Africa danced for joy. The news

reached not only the cities, towns and villages, but

even the scattered huts. Every island between Africa

and Italy was full of it;the glad tidings ran far and

wide, disliked by none. Then Italy put off her mourn-

ing, and the ruined walls of Rome resumed in part

1

Jerome, Letter, 130.2Baronius, A.D. 395, 6. Vol. vi. 163.

3Chrysostom, Letter 168. Works, Ed. Gaume, III. 840.

4Jerome, Letter 130.


their olden splendour; for they believed the full con-

version of their foster-child to be a sign of God's favour

towards them."Proba being now settled in Africa sought Augustine's

advice on the subject of prayer.

Augustine accordingly sent her a letter of spiritualdirection. 1

The Letter is divided into two parts : first, concerningthe person who prays ; secondly, concerning the objectsfor which prayer should be made.As concerning the person,

2Augustine dwells on

the obstacles to religious life, caused by wealth, of

which Proba was so conspicuous a possessor.3 Then

on the fact that all human life is desolate, whateverbe its earthly condition, until it finds its real life in

Christ. Proba must learn to regard all earthly posses-sions with indifference,

4seeking nothing from them but

bodily health. And this is to be sought because it

qualifies us to discharge life's work.

As concerning the object for which prayer should be

made,5Augustine sums this up in the advice to pray

for a happy life. And if asked what constitutes happi-ness, he replies that it does not consist in gratifyingour own will and desires. (This is one of the subjectswhich Augustine discussed in the villa outside Milanin the early days after his Conversion, De beata Vita)Here he supports his teaching with a quotation fromCicero.

True happiness consists in possession of all we desire,6

provided that we desire nothing but what we ought.Desire for the health of those we love is right, but it

does not constitute happiness.

May we also desire distinction and power for them ?7

Yes, if we desire it in order that they may minister


3 Letter 130, 4.* Letter 130, 7.

5 Letter 130, 9.6 Letter 130, 11.

7 Letter 1 30, 1 2.


to others. But if we desire it out of pride and arro-

gance it is disastrous.. He appeals to Prov. xxx. 8-9for the superior safety of those whose lot is neither

wealth nor poverty.But the secret of a happy life lies in no external

possessions,1 or temporal state. The secret of happiness

is life in God.

Prayer should be concentrated on the effort to acquirethis life in God. 2 It must be persistent and persevering.Christ's illustration is of the importunate widow.

This prayer must be offered in faith and hope andlove.3 It is offered not with the purpose of givingGod information,

4 but for the development of our

spiritual powers.

Prayer must be continuous 5 as a spirit of aspiration,

finding expression in words at stated seasons.

The value of prayer does not in any way dependupon its length.

6 Yet it is neither wrong nor unprofit-able to spend much time in prayer, provided that this

does not interfere with our performance of our duties

and good works.

Augustine relates that the brethren in Egypt wereaccustomed to brief frequent petitions, attention beingawakened and fixed for the moment. 7 This was found

to be a remedy against inattention and wanderingthoughts. He gives advice which shows great know-

ledge of human limitations. Prolonged prayer is

desirable if the mind is capable of continuous attention.

Prolonged prayer is rather a mental attitude than a use

of words. It is very different from " much speaking."It is rather a state than an utterance. At the same time

of course words are necessary.And here Augustine gives a summary

8 of the mean-

ing of the Lord's Prayer.

1 Letter 130, 14.2 Letter 130, 15.

3 Letter 130, 16.4 Letter 130, 17.

5 Letter 130, 18. 6 Letter 130, 19.7 Letter 130, 20. 8 Letter 130, 21.


All truly Christian petition is included, Augustinemaintains,

1 in the clauses of the Lord's Prayer. Anypetition which cannot be harmonised with that Prayeris carnal even if it is not unlawful. Indeed, it mustbe unlawful, since those who are born again of the

Spirit must offer spiritual petitions. We may of course

use other words beside the Prayer but the substancemust be the same.As to the persons in whose behalf prayer is made,2

these are ourselves, our friends, strangers and enemies.

When S. Paul said we know not what to pray for

as we ought3(Rom. viii. 26), he is not betraying ignor-

ance of the Lord's Prayer, but acknowledging ignorancewhich may be spiritually expedient for us. Thus his

own prayer for deliverance from the thorn in the flesh

was not granted in the form in which it was offered.

All Christian prayer must be conditioned by the

proviso which Christ uttered in Gethsemane. There is

so much that we do not know.

Accordingly there is a certain docta ignorantia* Butit is an ignorance instructed by the Spirit of God.The letter concludes with a request that Augustine

may be aided by Proba's prayers.5

The letter to the lady Italica 6ought to be placed in a

collection of spiritual letters. It is concerned with the

Vision of God, and with the correction of misconceptionsabout it. The Vision of God 7

is for the mind, not for

the bodily eye. It is a case of mental apprehension, not

of physical discernment. The objects of physical vision

must occupy space. Put God does not comply with this

condition. He dwells "in the light which no man can

approach unto;whom no man hath seen, nor can

see" (i Tim. vi. 16). He is not accessible to bodily


4 Letter 130, 28.8 Letter 130, 31.

6 Letter 130, 62, A.D. 408.7 Letter 130, 3.


sight, but He is accessible to mental vision." We shall

see Him as He is"

(i John iii. 2). But then this

vision depends on resemblance to Him. " We shall

therefore see Him according to the measure in which weshall be like Him." This likewise is not bodily but

spiritual. When the Apostle says we shall see God"face to face," the seeing is not physical. God has

not a face like ours.

Numerous misconceptions prevailedl in the popular

fifth-century theories about the Vision of God. It was

held, for example, that while in this life we see God with

our minds, in the next we shall see Him with our bodily

eyes ;and that not only the good but also the evil will

see Him.To this Augustine answers that, according to the

Beatitudes, it is the pure in heart who shall see God.The text,

" Now we see through a glass darkly, but then

face to face," is not a contrast between mental vision

and physical, but between two degrees of mental vision.

All Vision of God is mental.

A curious dilemma was propounded in popular discus-

sions. The question was put : Was Christ able to see

the Father with His bodily eyes, or not? If not, then

God is not omnipotent. If yes, then so shall we be able

in the future life.

Augustine replies by asking why this question should

be confined to the sense of sight? Why net apply the

same inquiry to the other senses of Christ? Why not

inquire whether Christ heard God with His bodily ear ?

Is God, then, to be a sound as well as a sight? Thetheorist recoiled from this application. Well, then, it is

no detraction from the Divine omnipotence that God is

essentially invisible to the bodily eye.This great subject, the Vision of God,* is further ex-

pounded in a letter written for the edification of a ladynamed Paulina. It is a treatise in itself, and a subject



which enables the writer to reveal the depth of his own

spiritual experience, and the principles which govern all

personal relation between God and man. It is, as he says,a subject which must be known by experience rather

than by discussion. Those who have learned from ourLord Jesus Christ to be meek and lowly in heart makeprogress rather by thought and prayer than by readingand hearing. Not indeed that instruction has no further

place ;but that when he who plants or waters has done

his task,1 he must leave the rest to Him Who gives the

increase. Meantime the reader must not accept instruc-

sion on Augustine's authority, but either because the

instruction is verified by Scripture,2 or verified by the

reader's inward experience.All knowledge comes to us either through the

avenues of the senses, or by the inferences of the

mind.3 We see by the eyes of the body, we see also bythe eyes of the mind. The material world is the objectof the former sight ; will, memory, understanding, in-

telligence, are the objects of the latter. There is

another sphere ascertainable neither by bodily nor bymental vision, namely, the sphere of things accessible

only by faith.

This sphere of faith is very large indeed.4 Withoutit we could neither know the existence of cities we havenever visited, nor of the historic incidents before our

time. Nor could we know who were our parents andwho are our relatives except for the exercise of faith.

Faith is the method of ascertaining these as well as the

Incarnation and Resurrection of Christ. The correla-

tive of faith is the authority of the testifier;and if con-

fidence is at times misplaced, it is none the less aninevitable principle of human existence.

The objects accessible to sight are things present ;

the objects of faith are things absent. 5

1 Letter 147, i.2 Letter 147, 2.

3 Letter 147, 4.4 Letter 147, 5.

5 Letter 147, 7.


Thus our knowledge consists of things seen and thingsbelieved.1

" On whom though now ye see him not,

yet believing."2 " Blessed are they who have not seen

and yet have believed." Things may be seen either bythe eyes of the body or by the eyes of the mind. Butthe objects of faith are those which are neither seen bythe eyes of the body, nor by those of the mind. Hence,then, we understand what it is to see, and what it is to

believe.

Apply this to the Vision of God. We know that Godcan be seen, for it is written,

" Blessed are the pure in

heart, for they shall see God." 3 And " we shall see himas he is."

4 Yet " no man hath seen God at any time." 5

" Whom no man hath seen nor can see." 6 Yet "their

angels do always behold the face of my Father which is

in heaven."

What is the explanation of these ? Augustine thinks

we had better refer to that great exponent of Scrip-

ture, S. Ambrose. 7 It is the nature of God to be

invisible, yet He manifests Himself to whom He wills.

But the plenitude of His Divinity cannot be compre-hended. 8

He can be revealed through Christ to the humanmind. A manifestation of Him can be given, but Hisessential nature cannot be seen. When it is said that

the pure in heart shall see God, the meaning is that

inward preparation qualifies men to be recipients of

Divine manifestations and enables them to realise God's

Presence. Thus is it true that no man hath seen Godat any time :

9 that is to say, as He is in His essential

being'. On the other hand," He that hath seen me

1 Letter 147, 8.2

i Pet. i. 8.3 Matt. v. 8.

4i John iii. 2.

5John i. 18. 6

i Tim. vi. 16.

7 Letter 147, 17.8 Letter 147, 22.

9 Letter 147, 29.


hath seen the Father," because Christ is the Revelationof the Father.

The whole subject is summed up in such terms as the

following.1 If you ask whether God can be seen, I

answer yes. If you ask how I know this, I reply be-

cause the Scripture says :

" Blessed are the pure in heart,for they shall see God." If you ask how He can be

called invisible if He can be seen, I answer He is in-

visible by nature, but He can be seen when and as Hewills.

Augustine here is moved to give a warning on the

danger of all theological discussions. While we debatehow God can possibly be seen, we may lose the

disposition, the sanctified spirit,2 without which it is

impossible to see Him. Yet the intellectual study of

these problems concerning God is essential. For the

localising and the materialising of God are most dan-

gerous to true religion. It makes the greatest difference

whether we hold concerning God what is contrary to

fact and truth. And the effort to convert body into

spirit is endurable, but not that of converting spirit into

body. Now God is Spirit, not body. Our bodily eyescannot see Him now, and never will. He must be

seen, when He is seen, by the spirit, and not by the

body.This raises the question of the change which will pass

over the human body in the Resurrection. 3 However

spiritualised the body will become it will not cease to

be body. It will not be converted into spirit.

Again he appeals to S. Ambrose's teaching. Andnot without a half apology,

4assuring his correspondent

that his regard for Ambrose is not simply due to the

fact that the Bishop of Milan's teaching was the provi-dential means of his deliverance from error, nor simplybecause through Ambrose's ministry he received the

1 Letter 147, 37.2 Letter 147, 49.

3 Letter 147, ^50 and 51. Cj. p. I93/ and 208.4 Letter 147, 52.


saving Baptismal Grace;but because of the intrinsic

value of Ambrose's instructions.

Proba and Juliana sent Augustine a gift to com-memorate Demetrias's taking the veil (yelationis apo-

phoretuni}. He replied in a letter of congratulation,1

which, for its brevity and contents, is a remarkablecontrast to Jerome's effusive and redundant epistle.None the less Augustine agreed with Jerome in his

estimate of the religious life. He hopes that those whoenvied the social distinctions of the Anician House will

emulate their sanctity.

Bishop Alypius and Augustine together wrote a letter

to Juliana,2 Froba's widowed daughter-in-law, mother of

the religious Demetrias. The Bishops were at Hippowhen Juliana replied to Augustine's letter congratu-

lating her on her daughter taking the veil.

Juliana evidently felt a little nettled because Augus-tine warned her not to pay attention to perverters of

the faith. She thanked him for his admonition, but

hastened to assure him that persons of that descriptionwere kept at a distance from the house, and that neither

she nor any of her relatives had been known to lapseinto heresy : no, nor even into minor errors in faith.

Augustine replies that he considers Juliana's house to

be a Christian Church of no small importance ;but that

there are errors against which it is necessary to be on

guard.He has been reading a book which he understands

is addressed to Juliana's daughter Demetrias, in which

spiritual graces are ascribed exclusively to our personalefforts. This document was the work of Pelagius. Noone, says this book,

3 can confer spiritual wealth uponyou except you yourself.That maxim Augustine affirms to be absolutely

irreconcilable with Apostolic Christianity. The power

1 Letter 150.2 Letter 188, A.D. 418.

3 Letter 188, 4


is from God and not from ourselves (2 Cor. iv. 7). All

cannot receive this word but they to whom it is given

(Matt. xix. u). "Every good gift and every perfect

gift is from above" (Jas. i. 17.) "What hast thouthat thou didst not receive?" (i Cor. iv. 7). God doesnot only help us to know what we ought to do, but also

inspires us with love, so that we may carry into effect

what we know we ought to do. Instruction in the ideal

must be supplemented by power to love the ideal. Andthat power to love is a gift of God. 1

Augustine is well aware that Juliana's house has been

unimpeachably orthodox on the doctrine of the un-

divided Trinity. But there are other errors most per-nicious. 2 And this must be his excuse for dwelling,

perhaps at undue length, on the error before him. Todeny the source of a gift which comes from God is to

do God a wrong, that is to wrong the Holy Trinity.

He, therefore, bids Juliana ascertain whether in the

book 3 in question, the help of God is anywhere acknow-

ledged ; except in the sense of the gift of human nature,or free will, or forgiveness, or revelation of doctrine.4

Yet the fact is, that we are not only aided by a revela-

tion of truth, but also by an infusion of charity enablingus to perform what we knotv to be our duty.Thus Augustine can only consider this book to be

dangerously misleading.5 It encourages the religious

to glory in herself instead of glorying in the Lord.

Augustine adds that its author is Pelagius, although the

book does not say so. This he gathers from a letter byPelagius which has come his way.

He, therefore, asks Juliana to look into the matter andto acquaint him with theresult of her inquiries.The Bishop's vigilance and anxiety were more than

justified.6

1 Letter 188, 8.2 Letter 188, 10.

3 Letter 1 88, 12.4 Letter 188, 13.

5 Letter 188, 14.6 See Augustine, De Gratia Christi, 40. For the contents of


Troubles had arisen in a Community of Women overwhich the Bishop's sister formerly presided.

1Augustine

wrote to Mother Felicitas and the Sisters a letter in

which he dwelt on the necessity at times of reproof, andof the spirit in which reproof should be uttered andreceived. If a person takes offence at being reproved,and the reprover retaliates, it is plain that the reproverwas not qualified to give reproof but rather himself

requires to be reproved. That is the spirit in whichthose in authority must act. They must aim at concordrather than at getting the better of each other in dispute.As vinegar corrodes a vessel if it continues long, so

anger corrodes the heart if it is cherished till the morrow.

Augustine also wrote a long letter to the Sisters.2

He is peculiarly grieved that, just at the very timewhen Donatists are coming into Unity divisions shouldbreak forth in a Monastery within the Church. TheSisters want to displace their Superior. Augustinepoints out that the present Superior has been there for

years ;she was assistant to his own sister, the former

Superior, now dead. All the present Sisters had beenreceived by her, passed their novitiate and taken the

vows under her rule. She had successfully governedthe House and increased its numbers. Augustine thinks

that if the proposal to remove her had come from

himself, the Convent would have great reason to deploreit. He exhorts them to submit to her authority.The Bishop proceeds to lay down rules and give

advice to the Sisterhood. The House contained Sisters

of widely different social position.He recommends that allowance should be made in

the Convent for the wealthier sort, and that they should

not be required to forego everything to which they hadbeen accustomed in the world. The life must not be

Pelagius's letter to Demetrias, see Letters on the Doctrine of Grace,

p. 126.1 Letter 210, A.D. 423.

2 Letter 211, A.D. 423.s


made unnecessarily hard for them. On the other handthe poorer sort must not expect to find in the Convent

indulgence and comforts which they never possessed in

the world : nor must they give themselves airs because

they now associate on terms of equality with personswhom they dared not approach while living in the

world. At the same time those who formerly held dis-

tinguished positions in the world must avoid pride of

social distinction. Pride can so easily vitiate the best

of human deeds.

The chapel is to be kept exclusively for its sacred

purposes. Nothing must be permitted there which maydisturb or distract those who enter it to pray.

They ought to fast. But only so far as health

allows. Those who are unable to fast should not take

food except at mealtimes : unless, indeed, they are ill.

Religious books are to be read to the Sisters at meals.

Everything conspicuous in dress or demeanour is to

be carefully avoided.

They are to warn each other of their faults and to

report to the Superior the defects of a Sister who refuses

to listen to them. If the offender refuse correction, shemust be expelled from the Sisterhood.

Augustine regulates the care of the sick members, the

charge of the store-room and the library. Manuscriptsare to be applied for daily at a fixed hour, and not to

be given out at any other time.

They are to cultivate mutual forbearance and forgive-ness. They are to give obedience to their Superior as

a mother. Also they are to obey the presbyter whohas charge of them.

To complete the number of Augustine's letters to

women, we must add the short note to the famousFabiola (Letter 267). There are also the letters written

to S. Paulinus and his wife Therasia.

All these letters imply (what we know from other

sources, such as the Letters of S. Jerome) not only a


high level of education, but also of theological knowledgeamong the women of the early fifth century. Whether

Augustine is writing on Christian ethics to the self-

willed lady Ecdicia, or on the Incarnation to Maxima,or on Novatianism to Seleuciana, or on Pelagianism to

Juliana, he certainly does not break the bread of know-

ledge into any smaller fragments than when he is

writing to men. It is questionable whether the Church-women were not better informed on doctrine than a

number of the Churchmen of a corresponding social level.

When Augustine wrote to these Roman ladies, henowhere gives such elementary instruction as he did to

Count Boniface, who had to be informed what the

difference was between a Donatist and an Arian

(Letter 175).^And certainly his spiritual letters, such as that to

Italica on the Vision of God, or to Proba on Prayer, are

as profound as any writings of the kind composed byAugustine for men.These letters also reveal the extent to which Com-

munity life appealed to women of the highest social andintellectual rank of that period.

Note also that the elaborate refutation of Pelagianismin the treatise on the Grace of Christ and on the

doctrine of Original Sin, was written for the instruction

of Albina, Pinian and Melania.

CHAPTER IX

LETTERS ON THE EUCHARIST 1

AUGUSTINE^ sacramental teaching was largely givenin discussions on the problems created by schism.

The question what constituted validity of a Sacramentwas forced upon the Church by the theories of the

Donatists. Incidentally much had to be taught con-

cerning the sacramental principle in general, and the

nature of Baptism and Ordination in particular. TheSacraments, therefore, are discussed all through the

letters on the African Church divisions. But there wasalso much sacramental teaching which clearly wouldhave been given in any case if no divisions had existed.

Above all, Augustine has much to say in his letters

concerning the Eucharist. It seems desirable to collect

together the principal features of his instructions on the

Sacrament of the Altar.

Some insight into the devotional practices of

Augustine's times is to be obtained from the letter

to a priest named Casulan. 2 Casulan had been read-

ing a work by a priest residing in Rome, whose purposewas to enforce on Christendom the custom prevalent in

the local Roman Church of fasting on the Sabbath Day.The author was an ecclesiastic of a narrow type, anda person whose hard aggressive soul exceeded his

knowledge. Casulan, who was evidently a little scandal-

ised by the author's arguments, appeals to Augustine

1 See Karl Adam, Die Eucharistie-Lehrc des h. Augustin.1908. Darwell Stone, Doctrine of the Eucharist.

2 Letter 36.

276


for information whether it is lawful to fast on the

Sabbath. To this inquiry Augustine sends a long reply.It should be noticed that in this letter the Sabbath andthe Lord's Day are never confused. The Sabbath is

the Jewish festival, the last day of the week;the Lord's

Day is the Christian festival, with which the week

begins. This distinction is clearly carefully observed

by all who were concerned in this discussion. Indeed,the discussion is unintelligible if the Sabbath and the

Sunday are identified.

To the question, Is it lawful to fast on the Sabbath ?

Augustine replies that if it were not, neither Mosesnor Elijah nor our Lord during their protracted fasts

would have done so. If any one, therefore, infers that

fasting on the Lord's Day must also be permissible,

Augustine replies that this cannot be done without

causing scandal to the Church. And here he appealsto the principles of custom and tradition. In those

matters concerning which Holy Scripture gives nocertain ruling, the custom of the people of God, or

the decisions of our forefathers, must be regarded as

the law. 1

Now the custom of the Church, excepting the Romanand a few Western communities, was not to fast on the

Sabbath. The Church at Rome fasted on Wednesday,Friday and Saturday. The Roman writer argued that

it was necessary at least to fast three times in the

week, otherwise the Christian would be no better than

the Pharisees who only fasted twice.2 As if, says

Augustine, the Pharisee was condemned on the groundof the insufficient number of the fast days which he

kept. Besides this, adds Augustine sarcastically, the

Pharisee gave tithes of all that he possessed. Not

many Christians did as much.The Roman writer argued with so little sense of

1 In his enim rebus de quibus nihil certi statuit Scriptura divina,

mos populi Dei, vel instituta majorum pro lege tenenda stint.

2 Letter 36, 7.


proportion that the logical inference would be that

Christians ought1 to fast on the Lord's Day as well

as the Sabbath. Otherwise they paid more deference

to the day on which the Lord lay in the grave than to

that in which He arose from the dead. The Romanwrote in praise of fasting in extravagant terms. Byfood Adam lost Paradise, and Esau his birthright. If,

as the Roman asserted, fasting on the Sabbath was the

avoidance of all sin, the Lord's Day ought not to be

deprived of those advantages. But to argue in such a

manner is to scandalise the whole Church, which 2 doesnot fast on the Lord's Day. When the Apostle said

that the Kingdom of God was not food and drink, hewas not insisting that it was a Christian obligation to

fast on the Sabbath. 3 Nor was it a true interpretationof Scripture to identify fasting with the Sacrifice of

Praise.4 Fasting is a practice confined to certain daysand omitted on festivals; but the Sacrifice of Praise

was offered by the Universal Church on every day.The Roman pamphleteer reached the extreme of his

extravagance when he denounced all who did not fast

on the Sabbath, and fulminated against them the woeincurred by all who put bitter for sweet and darknessinstead of light. To which Augustine answers that heis not sure what the writer means. But, whateverhe means, Casulan must not suppose that the Christian

city (urbs Christiana, i.e. Rome) advocates fasting onthe Sabbath in such a manner as to condemn the

practice of the Christian world (orbis Christianus).5

But here the Roman author fell back on the authorityof S. Peter. Peter himself, who was "the head of the

Apostles, doorkeeper of Heaven, and foundation of the

Church,"6 had taught this practice of fasting on the

Sabbath to the Romans whose faith was proclaimedin the whole orbis terrarum. The story was, that the


4 Letter 36, 18.5 Letter 36, 20. 6 Letter 36, 21.


Apostle S. Peter being about to contend with SimonMagus on the Lord's Day fasted on the Saturday withthe Church of the city ;

and that the Roman Church in

memory of Peter's triumph continued to observe theSabbath as a fast, in which practice certain otherWestern Churches followed them.

Augustine in reply inquires whether, assuming that

the Roman custom can be traced to S. Peter, the other

Apostles taught the rest of the Catholic world the

opposite practice in contradiction to S. Peter. If

the Roman advocate replies1 that S. James taught the

same at Jerusalem, and S. John at Ephesus, as S. Peter

taught at Rome, but that all these Churches have

departed from their teaching and only the Church at

Rome has stood firm, this is only to raise problemswhich cannot be solved

;it is just as easy to say that

the Western Churches, Rome included, have not keptwhat the Apostles delivered unto them, and that the

Eastern Churches, where the Gospel was first pro-

claimed, have kept what all the other Apostles togetherwith Peter himself taught them, namely, that they oughtnot to fast upon the Sabbath. Obviously there is no endto such mutual recriminations. Nothing can come of

them but interminable controversy. After all, unity of

Faith is consistent with diversity of observances. The

King's daughter, i.e. the Church, is all glorious within.

But the diversity of observances are but the fringes of

the Church's vesture over which there is no necessity to

arouse contention.

The Roman advocated these claims further by urgingthat it was the duty of a Christian to be as unlike

the Jew as possible. The Jew by observing the

Sabbath rejected the Lord's Day, how then could a

Christian observe the Sabbath? To fast upon the

Sabbath commended itself as the plainest revolt from

anything Jewish. The old dispensation was gone. Old

1 Letter 36, 22.


things had passed away. You cannot serve twomasters.

The Roman went on to emphasise the differences

between Israel and the Church. He maintained that

the Jewish Ara had given place to the Christian Altare ;

the Jewish Sacrifice of the Flesh to the Christian Sacrifice

of the Bread;

the Jewish Offering of Blood to the

Christian Cup.Augustine criticises these distinctions as inaccurate.

The name Altare occurs constantly in the Law andthe Prophets. The Altare of God stood in the

Tabernacle. And the term Ara occurs in the apostolic

writings. The Martyrs plead under the Ara Dei

(Apoc. vi. 9-10). There was the shewbread on the

Table of the Lord in the Jew's religion. And we are

now partakers of the Body of the Immaculate Lamb.

Accordingly it would be more in harmony with fact

if we were to claim that the old had been made newin Christ

;that one Altare had succeeded to another,

one Bread to another, one Lamb to another and Bloodto Bread. There had been a transition from the carnal

to the spiritual. Thus, whether the Sabbath was keptas a fast or not, the carnal meaning of the day has

ceased.

Looking to the New Testament principles as a

whole, Augustine says it is clear that fasting is enjoined,but no detailed application of the practice to anyspecified days is found either in the teaching of* Christ

or in that of His Apostles. Fasting on the Lord's Dayought nowhere to be encouraged. It is a mark of the

Manichaean heresy.

Augustine says that the reason why the Churchfasted on the fourth day of the week is because that

was the day on which the Jews took counsel to slayour Lord.1 The Friday fast requires no explanation.The Sabbath was observed as a feast by those who

1 Letter 36, 30.


thought chiefly of our Lord's Death as rest;

l as a

fast by those who laid stress on the aspect of its

humiliation.

The letter concludes by recounting the advice ofS. Ambrose on observing the Sabbath. Augustine hastold this story more than once. He gives it again in

the celebrated letter to Januarius (Letter 54, 3). It

was the custom at Carthage, or Thagaste, to fast on the

Sabbath. But the Church at Milan did not observethis practice. The independence of the Church at

Milan from Roman influence is a well-known feature

of early history. When Monnica came to reside for a

time at Milan she was in some perplexity which

practice she ought to follow. She sent Augustine to

consult Ambrose about it. Ambrose replied that whenhe was at Milan he did not fast on the Sabbath, but

when at Rome he did. With this ruling Monnica com-

plied. Augustine here adds that he himself followed

the same rule in Africa. If he came to a church whereboth practices existed he followed the use of those whowere responsible for the Church's guidance. His advice,

therefore, to Casulan 2 was to follow the guidance of his

bishop, and by no means in this matter to resist him.

The first letter to Januarius, written in the year 4OO,3

is certainly among the most celebrated in Augustine's

correspondence. It deals with practical observances

concerning the Eucharist. Januarius had written to

inquire what was a Churchman's duty with regard to

observances which differed in various portions of the

Church,

Augustine considers that the ruling principle in a

discussion on this subject should be found in the

fact that Christ's yoke is easy and His burden light ;

that " He has bound together the new Community of

His people by Sacraments in number very few, in

1 Letter 36, 31.2 Letter 36, 32.

3 Letter 54.


observance very easy, and in meaning very excellent;

such as Baptism solemnised in the name of the Trinity,the Communication of His Body and Blood, and what-ever else is enjoined in the Canonical Scriptures . . ."

l

In addition to those observances which .rest on the

authority of Scripture there are others which rest onthe authority of tradition (" non scripta sed tradita ").

Augustine contemplates certain observances which pre-vail universally : such as the yearly commemoration of

the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension, and of the

Descent of the Holy Spirit. These are regarded byAugustine either as instituted by the Apostles, or

sanctioned by Plenary Councils which have great value

in the Church. These are cases in which the observanceis universal.

Passing to cases where observance differs in different

localities, Augustine gives examples.2 " Some fast on

Saturday, others do not;some partake daily of the

Body and Blood of Christ;others receive it on stated

days ;in some places no day passes without the Sacri-

fice being offered;

in others it is only on Saturdayand the Lord's Day, or it may be only on the Lord's

Day."Augustine considers that in all these cases observance

is optional, and that " there is no better rule for a wise

and serious Christian than to conform to the ..practicewhich he finds prevailing in the Church which he mayhappen to visit."

And here again he illustrates this rule by the advice

of S. Ambrose to Monnica at Milan.3

Here he is concerned with the question of the

frequency of reception of the Eucharist. Opinion wasdivided about this at the beginning of the fifth century.

Augustine gives three views.

I. Some held that the Eucharist ought not to be

1 Letter 54, I. 2 Letter 54, 2.3

Cf. Letter 36, 32.


taken every day ;but only on days of special pre-

paredness. For this view reference was made to the

warning in I Cor. xi. 29.2. Others held that if a person judged himself unfit

to receive he ought to be forbidden by the Bishop to

approach the Altar until he had done penance. Thebasis of this view was that the individual cannot with-

draw from the Communion of the Church or restore

himself as he pleases.The first of these two views regarded reception as an

individual act, the second as a social act.

3. The third opinion was, that each individual should,in the matter of reception, do what he conscientiouslybelieved to be his duty. Augustine favoured this view.

He did so for the following reason :

l " Neither of them

lightly esteems the Body and Blood of the Lord;on

the contrary both are contending who shall most highlyhonour the Sacrament." Augustine compares the

advocates of the two opinions to Zacchaeus and the

Centurion. "The former joyfully received the Lordinto his house, the latter said

'

I am not worthy that

Thou shouldest come under my roof;both honouring

the Saviour, though in ways diverse, and, as it were,

mutually opposed ;both miserable through sm, and

both obtaining the mercy they required."

Augustine next proceeds to discuss 2 the celebration of

the Eucharist on the Thursday of the last week in Lent.

"Suppose some foreigner visits a place

3 in which

during Lent it is customary to abstain from the use of

the bath and to continue fasting on Thursday.*

I will

not fast to-day,' he says. The reason being asked, he

says,' Such is not the custom in my own country/ Is

not he, by such conduct, attempting to assert the

superiority of his custom over theirs ? For he cannot


3 Letter 54, 5. Cunningham's translation.


quote a. decisive passage on the subject from the Bookof God

;nor can he prove his opinion to be right by

the unanimous voice of the Universal Church, wherever

spread abroad;nor can he demonstrate that they act

contrary to the faith, and he according to it, or that

they are doing what is prejudicial to sound morality,and he is defending its interests. Those men injuretheir own tranquillity and peace by quarrelling on an

unnecessary question. I would rather recommend that,

in matters of this kind, each man should, when so-

journing in a country in which he finds a customdifferent from his own, consent to do as others do. If

on the other hand, a Christian, when travelling abroadin some region where the people of God are more

numerous, and more easily assembled together, and morezealous in religion, has seen, for example, the Sacrifice

twice offered, both morning and evening, on the

Thursday of the last week in Lent, and therefore, onhis coming back to his own country, where it is offered

only at the close of the day, protests against this as

wrong and unlawful, because he has himself seen

another custom in another land, this would show a

childish weakness of judgment against which we should

guard ourselves, and which we must bear with in others,but correct in all who are under our influence.

" Observe now to which of these three classes the

first question in your letter is to be referred. You ask :

* What ought to be done on the Thursday of the last

week in Lent ? Ought we to offer the Sacrifice in the

morning, and again after supper, on account of the

words of the Gospel" Likewise also after supper"? or

ought we to fast, and offer the Sacrifice only after

supper? Or ought we to fast until the offering hasbeen made, and then take supper as we are accustomedto do ?

'

1 answer, therefore, that if the authority of

Scripture has decided which of these methods is right,there is no room for doubting that we should do

according to that which is written;and our discussion


must be occupied with a question, not of duty, but of

interpretation as to the meaning of the Divine institution.

In like manner, if the Universal Church follows any oneof these methods, there is no room for doubt as to our

duty ;for it would be the height of arrogant madness

to discuss whether or not we should comply with it.

But the question which you propose is not decidedeither by Scripture or by universal practice. It must,therefore, be referred to a third class : as pertaining,

namely, to things which are different in different placesand countries. Let every man, therefore, conformhimself to the usage prevailing in the Church to whichhe may come. For none of these methods is contraryto the Christian Faith or the interests of morality, as

favoured by the adoption of one custom more than the

other. If this were the case, that either the faith or

sound morality were at stake, it would be necessaryeither to change what was done amiss, or to appointthe doing of what had been neglected. But . mere

change of custom, even though it may be of advantagein some respects, unsettles men by reason of the

novelty : therefore, if it brings no advantage, it does

much harm by unprofitably disturbing the Church." Let me add that it would be a mistake to suppose

that the custom, prevalent in many places, of offeringthe Sacrifice on that day after partaking of food, is to

be traced to the words,* Likewise after supper/ etc.

For the Lord might give the name of supper to what

they had received, in already partaking of His Body,so that it was after this that they partook of the Cup :

as the Apostle says in another place,* When ye come

together into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's

Supper,' giving to the receiving of the Eucharist to that

extent (i.e. the eating of the bread) the name of the

Lord's Supper." As to the question whether upon that day it is

right to partake of food before either offering or

partaking of the Eucharist these words in the Gospel


might go far to decide our minds,' As they were eating,

Jesus took bread and blessed it,' taken in connectionwith the words in the preceding context,

* When the

even was come, he sat down with the twelve : and as

they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you that one of

you shall betray me.' For it was after that that Heinstituted the Sacrament

;and it is clear that when the

disciples first received the Body and Blood of the Lord,

they had not been fasting." Must we, therefore, censure the Universal Church

because the Sacrament is everywhere partaken of bypersons fasting ? Nay, verily, for from that time it

pleased the Holy Spirit to appoint, for the honour of

so great a Sacrament, that the Body of the Lord should

take the precedence of all other food entering the

mouth of a Christian;and it is for this reason that the

custom referred to is universally observed. For the

fact that the Lord instituted the Sacrament after other

food had been partaken of, does not prove that brethren

should come together to partake of the Sacrament after

having dined or supped, or imitate those whom the

Apostle reproved and corrected for not distinguishingbetween the Lord's Supper and an ordinary meal.

The Saviour, indeed, in order to commend the depthof that mystery more affectingly to His disciples, was

pleased to impress it on their hearts and memories bymaking its institution His last act before going fromthem to His Passion. And, therefore, He did not

prescribe the order in which it was to be observed,

reserving this to be done by the Apostles, throughwhom He intended to arrange all things pertainingto the Churches. Had He appointed that the Sacra-

ment should be always partaken of after other food,I believe that no one would have departed from that

practice. But when the Apostle, speaking of this

Sacrament says,'

Wherefore, my brethren, when yecome together to eat, tarry one for another. And if anyman hunger, let him eat at home

;that ye come not


together unto condemnation,' he immediately adds,' and the rest will I set in order when I come.' Whencewe are given to understand that, since it was too muchfor him to prescribe completely in an epistle the methodobserved by the Universal Church throughout the

world, it was one of the things set in order by him in

person, for we find its observance uniform amid all the

variety of other customs." There are, indeed, some to whom it has seemed right

(and their view is not unreasonable) that it is lawful for

the Body and Blood of the Lord to be offered andreceived after other food has been partaken of, on onefixed day of the year, the day on which the Lord insti-

tuted the Supper, in order to give special solemnity to

the service on that anniversary. I think that, in this

case, it would be more seemly to have it celebrated at

such an hour as would leave it in the power of any whohave fasted to attend the service before the repast whichis customary at the ninth hour." [There is a difficulty in

the reading of the text here. The Benedictine's readingis after the repast. But there is MS. authority for

reading before the repastJ]" Wherefore we neither compel nor do we dare to

forbid any one to break his fast before the Lord's Supperon that day. I believe, however, that the real groundupon which this custom rests is, that many, nay almost

all, are accustomed in most places to bathe on that day.And because some continue to fast, it is offered in the

morning, for those who take food, because they cannot

bear fasting and the use of the bath at the same time;

and in the evening for those who have fasted all day."

The second of the two letters to Januariuslis greatly

inferior in value to the first. It deals with such questionsas : Why we do not observe the anniversary of the

Passion on the same day every year, as we do the an-

niversary of the Birth( 2). Much is said on numerical

1 Letter 55, 9.


symbolism ( 10, etc., to end of 31). Our Lord

washing the disciples' feet is spoken of as literallyinstituted in some places, while it was a custom which

"many have not accepted" ( 33).

Returning to the subject discussed in the first letter,1

the variety of ceremonial observed in various parts ofthe Church, Augustine here remarks that ceremonial to

which we are not accustomed should not be adverselycriticised, but may be commended and copied providedthat such imitation produces no offence.

" We are not,

however, to be restrained"from such imitation by the

fear of offending some, "if more good is to be expectedfrom our consenting with those who are zealous for the

ceremony than loss to be feared from our displeasingthose who protest against it."

As an example of this Augustine refers to the practiceof singing hymns and psalms,

"for which we have on

record both the example and the precepts of our Lordand of His Apostles. In this religious exercise, so useful

for inducing%a devotional frame of mind and inflaming

the strength of love to God, there is diversity of usage,and in Africa the members of the Church are rather too

indifferent in regard to it;on which account the Dona-

tists reproach us with our grave chanting of the divine

songs of the prophets in our churches, while they inflame

their passions in their revels by the singing of psalms of

human composition, which rouse them like the stirringnotes of the trumpet on the battlefield. But whenbrethren are assembled in the Church, why should notthe time be devoted to singing of sacred songs, exceptingof course while reading or preaching is going on, or while

the presiding minister prays aloud, or the united prayerof the congregation is led by the deacon's voice? Atthe intervals not thus occupied, I do not see what could

be a more excellent, useful and holy exercise for a

Christian congregation."2

1 Letter 55, 34-2 Ibid.


It is very instructive to find this distinction in the fifth

century between the two types of African Christianity ;

the severe restraint on the Catholic side and the emotion-alism and excitement on the side of the Donatist Com-munity. It is also noteworthy that the Church in Africawas slower than the Church in Italy to make full useof singing in devotion. Augustine is probably tacitly

contrasting here what he remembers of the singing of

S. Ambrose's hymns in the Church at Milan with the

narrower practice of the Church in Africa.

With regard to the introduction of new ceremonial

Augustine adds :1 "

I cannot, however, sanction with myapproval those ceremonies which are departures from the

custom of the Church, and are instituted on the pretextof being symbolical of some holy mysteries ; althoughfor the sake of avoiding offence to the piety of some andthe pugnacity of others, I do not venture to condemn

severely many things of this kind."

He lays down, however, the following principle :

" Myopinion therefore is, that, wherever it is possible, all

those things should be abolished without hesitation

which neither have warrant in Holy Scripture, nor are

found to have been appointed by councils of bishops,nor are confirmed by the practice of the Universal

Church, but are so infinitely various, according to the

different customs of different places, that it is with

difficulty, if at all, that the reasons which guided men in

appointing them can be discovered. For even although

nothing be found, perhaps, in which they are against the

true faith; yet the Christian religion, which God in His

mercy made free, appointing to her Sacraments very few

in number, and very easily observed, is by these burden-

some ceremonies so oppressed, that the condition of the

Jewish Church itself is preferable; for although theyhave not known the time of their freedom, they are

subjected to burdens imposed by the law of God, not bythe vain conceits of men."

1 Letter 55, 35-


A problem on Infant Baptism was set before Augus-tine 1 for solution by Bishop Boniface. The problemwas whether parents can injure their baptised infants

if they offer Pagan sacrifice in the children's behalf.

The answer to this is, No. The child has no share in

the guilt, being unconscious of the incident. When the

child once possesses an independent existence, it cannotbe held responsible for sins committed without its ownconsent.

Then asks the Questioner :

"How, then, can the

parents' faith benefit the infant in Baptism, when the

parents' unbelief cannot injure it after it is baptised ?"

The answer is, that Regeneration is conferred by the

Sacrament and not by the parents' faith.2 It is not

written, says Augustine, except a man be born again of

his parents' will, or of the faith of those who present himto Baptism or who minister the Sacrament

; but, excepta man be born again of Water and of the Holy Spirit.Thus Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit. As

Augustine puts it : the water externally manifesting the

Sacrament of Grace, and the Spirit inwardly effectingthe benefit of Grace. (" Aqua igitur exhibens forinsecus

sacramentum gratiae, et Spiritus operans intrinsecus

beneficium gratiae.") The Regenerating Spirit is presentalike in the elders who offer the child, and in the child

who is offered and born again. And it is this association

in the one Spirit which gives value to the parents' faith.

The stress, according to Augustine, must be laid on the

Divine side and not on the mere human belief.

But when parents offer sacrifice to Pagan divinities

for a baptised infant there is no common bond of union

between them in the Presence of the Holy Spirit. It is

they who sin and not the infant. He cannot share the

responsibility. For sin is not communicated throughthe medium of another person's will in the way in which

grace is communicated through union with the Holy



Spirit. The unconsciousness of the infant makes nodifference to the presence of the Spirit. Thus Augus-tine's doctrine is, that the infant by its birth into thenatural order shares the common defect of the naturewhich it inherits. But on being born into the spiritual

order, by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, it is

liberated from, and can no more be bound by, the defects

of the natural order. When the grace of Christ is once

received, the child cannot lose it except by his ownimpiety. When it begins to have sins of its own, these

are not removed by Regeneration but are healed another

way.. At the same time Augustine holds that the responsi-

bility of the parents who offer Pagan rites J for a Christian

child is very great. It is nothing less than a case of

spiritual homicide. They are in intention killing the

child spiritually, were such an act within their power.But the guilt of the action recoils only on the perpetrators.It is the soul that sinneth which will die. The just

judgment of God, says Augustine, will not allow those to

perish whose parents so far as it was in their powerdeceived them. A principle which it had been well if

Augustine had applied in certain other parts of his

theological construction.

The thought that the faith of the parents receives its

value from the presence of the Holy Spirit within themas well as within the regenerated child, leads naturallyto the question : What if the faith of the parents or

sponsors in Baptism is not genuine ? What if the

parents bring a child to Baptism solely from an idea

that the Sacrament will improve its physical health ?

Augustine's reply is important. The regeneration of

a child does not depend on the intention of the parents.There are certain conditions indispensable to the validity

of a Sacrament. But the intention or the faith is not

simply the intention or the faith of a few individuals,

1 Letter 98, 3.


relatives or friends, who bring the child to be baptised.It is the intention or faith of the whole Church which is

the real presenter of the child to the Sacrament.

Bishop Boniface further inquired : Whether it was rightfor sponsors to make professions of faith on behalf of aninfant at its Baptism ? If you were asked : Will this child

grow up good or bad ? you would have to reply that

you could not tell. And yet when the sponsors are

asked : Does this child believe in God ? They answer,Yes

;and this when the child is at an age incapable

of any ideas whatever.1

Augustine admits the problem to be difficult;deserv-

ing, indeed, a lengthy treatment which he has not the

time to give. But he suggests that there is such a thingin religion as symbolical language; language in whichwe transfer to the Sign, or emblem, what is strictly speak-

ing true of the Thing Signified. Augustine does not

here employ these familiar terms the Sign and the ThingSignified. But this in effect is what he means. Hegives certain illustrations. Thus, for example, we say,this is the day when the Lord rose from the dead

; when,as a matter of fact, of course, the actual Resurrection of

our Lord took place long ago. But nobody would mis-

understand this transference of the fact from the ThingSignified to the Sign.

Here is another illustration : a very well-known

passage."Was not Christ once sacrificed in His own self? 2

And yet we say that Christ is daily sacrificed. . . . Forif the Sacraments had not a certain resemblance to the

things of which they are Sacraments, they would not be

Sacraments at all. And from the fact of this resem-

blance the Sacraments frequently receive the names of

the realities which they represent. As, therefore, after a

certain manner the Sacrament of the Body of Christ is

the Body of Christ, and the Sacrament of the Blood

1 Letter 98, 7.2 Letter 98, 9-


of Christ is the Blood of Christ, so the Sacrament offaith is faith."

Augustine's reply is subtle and requires reflection.

The point is : How can we reasonably ascribe faith to anunconscious infant at Baptism ? Augustine's answer is

that the popular use of language makes this defensible.

For we are accustomed to ascribe to a sign the propertiesof the thing which the sign represents. Augustine's first

illustration is : We say, this is the Day when Christ rose

from the Dead, when what we strictly mean is, this is the

anniversary of the actual event. His second illustration

is that the Sacrifice of Christ was offered once for all in

His actual Passion, and yet it is offered by Christians

every day. This second illustration suggests a different

idea. For the offering of Christ by Christians every dayis in itself a reality and not a simple reminder of a pastevent. Augustine certainly regarded the Eucharist as

an actual offering made to God : a real spiritual trans-

action, and not a mere external sign. The Sacramentdoes not merely represent, but actually is, the Body andBlood of Christ. Augustine says :

"is after a certain

manner (secundum quemdam modum)"

;because the

Body and Blood are not there in the physical conditions

of the Passion. He does not mean by the phrase"after

a certain manner "that the Sacrament is merely in a

figurative or representative or symbolical sense the Bodyand the Blood. The Sacrament of the Eucharist was

immeasurably more to Augustine than a representative

Sign. And yet the Sacrament is a representation of

what occurred in the Passion : the Body wounded, the

Blood outpoured. Thus it is true that we apply to the

Sacrament what is strictly applicable only to the Passion.

But we must be careful not to suppose that Augustine

separated Christ's Presence from the Eucharist, or

regarded the Sacramental Sign as a mere reference to

the Passion as if the Body and Blood were only on the

Cross and not in the Eucharist.

A third illustration given by Augustine is the Pauline


teaching that we are buried with Christ in Baptism(Rom. vi. 4). S. Paul does not say that Baptism signi-fies or represents our burial : it is our burial. He calls

the Sacrament of this great spiritual reality by the nameof this reality.Now here again Augustine certainly does not mean

that Baptism is merely the sign of the inner spiritual

change in the person baptised. His doctrine is not that

the Sign and the Thing Signified are separated. Theygo together. No doubt Augustine held a theory of

suspended effects;

that the grace received did not

operate except under conditions. But he certainly held

that the Sacramental grace was received. This was whyBaptism could never be repeated. Sign and ThingSignified go together. He has already said as much :

" The water externally manifesting the Sacrament of

grace, and the Spirit inwardly effecting the benefit of

grace." If, then, what is true of the Thing Signified is

ascribed to the Sign or, to put it in other words, what is

true of the Holy Spirit is ascribed to the Sacrament this

does not mean that you can separate the outer from the

inner, or regard the outer as a symbol of something not

necessarily given.

Augustine would be less liable to misinterpretation if

we remembenjthat in the ancient mind Signs were not

regarded as suggestions of absent realities but indications

of their presence.

Accordingly when Augustine applies this principle of

ascribing to the Sign what is true of the Thing Signifiedto the case of the unconscious infant who at its Baptismis declared to be the possessor of faith, he does not meanin the least that nothing is conferred upon the infant in

the way of inner grace, or that the Sign is separatedfrom the Thing Signified, or that faith is ascribed to the

infant only by way of hopeful anticipation. We mustremember that Augustine has already spoken of the

Regenerating Spirit as common alike to the parents andto the infant baptised ( 2). Also that he expressly


says that, although the infant does not yet possess thatfaith which consists in the will to believe, neverthelessthe Sacrament of faith constitutes him a believer

( 10).

Why ? Obviously because it implants within him the

grace which is the principle whence subjective faith is to

spring. Augustine held that when self-conscious intel-

ligence dawns the child is to be instructed in the natureof the gift it has received : not to repeat its Baptism butto utilise what it already possesses. And if it dies beforethe age when intelligence begins, it is saved by the Sacra-ment which it has received. This shows in the clearest

way that in Augustine's mind the Outward Sacramentand the Inward Reality were not separated but simul-

taneously conferred. And this conclusion harmonisesthe great teacher's principles in perfect consistency.On the subject of religious sacrifice 1

Pagan writers

complained that while Christians found fault with the

sacrificial worship of the Pagan Temples, the same kindof worship existed formerly among themselves.

In reply to this complaint,2Augustine answered that

sacrificial worship was certainly immemorial ;that Chris-

tians do not criticise Pagan rites merely because they

appointed priests and offered sacrifices. Christian criti-

cism is not opposed to the form of devotion, but to the

object to which it is offered. Sacrifice is not a mistaken

principle. It is the offering sacrifice to false divinities

which is the wrong. What is condemned in heathen

superstitions by the true religion is not the mere offeringof sacrifices (for the ancient saints offered these to the

true God), but the offering of sacrifices to false divinities.

Sacrifice is an offering due to God alone, and may not

be offered to any but to Him.3

This leads Augustine to explain that sacrifice holds

its place in the worship of the Christian Church. Thereis a sacrifice, says Augustine, which is offered by

1 Letter 102, 16.2 Letter 102, 17.

3 Letter 102, 19.


Christians at this present time. That sacrifice is set

before us in the Gospel. It is a sacred mystery and is

celebrated by Divine Authority.1

And here Augustine anticipates a probable criticism.

The Pagan will ask : Why, if you believe in the prin-

ciple of sacrifice, have you Christians altered its form ?

Augustine explains that the reason why the Christian

sacrifice differs in form from the Jewish is that the

Jewish was prospective and prophetic, while the Christian

is retrospective. Between them lies the one true Offer-

ing of the one Priest,, The change then is not in the

religion, nor in the object of devotion. But what camebefore Christ and what followed after Him must natur-

ally differ in form. Each is appropriate to its ownperiod. Just as a man might bring one kind of offeringin the morning and another kind in the evening, but

offers both to the selfsame deity. His religion is the

same, and his deity is the same. But different formsare adapted to different seasons.2

Augustine then accepts the principle of ceremonial

sacrifices as entirely Christian.

Further he adds that all external sacrifices are sym-bolical. 3 They are signs of inward realities. And we

ought to view the Sign in the light of the Thing Signified.

Augustine in this letter refers his reader to what hehas written elsewhere on the same subject. Probably,what he had in mind is the passage in reply to Faustusthe Manichaean (Book XXII. 17). In that passage,however, Augustine adds little if anything to what hehas given here, and omits all reference to the Eucharist.

The distinguished official of State, Marcellinus, set

before Augustine the same problem : Why is it that

God, Who rejected the sacrifices of the Old Dispensa-tion 4 should have authorised those of the New ? Thisalteration of religious ceremonial appeared to him incon-

1 Letter 102, 21. 2 Ibid.3 Letter 102, 17.

4 Letter 138.


sistent with Divine Unchangeableness. To inauguratenew seemed to disparage His own earlier directions.

Augustine's solution is that all life is constructed onthe principle of change. This is the case with theseasons of the year and with the life of the individual.

Childhood, Youth, Maturity, Age : But these external

changes do not imply any change in the Divine plan.

Augustine quotes the case of a patient who grew worse

through adhering beyond the proper time to his doctor's

prescriptions.

Apply these analogies to the case of sacrifice. TheJewish sacrifices were divinely ordained, and appropriateto the period for which they were designed.

1 NowSacraments may be defined as symbolical actions per-

taining to Divine things. The institution of new

symbolical actions did not mean that the old had

suddenly lost the Divine Approval ;nor does it show

inconsistency on the part of God. The two series wereeach respectively appropriate to their conditions. Oneseries of symbolical actions was appropriate to foretell

Christ's coming, and another to proclaim the fact that

He had come.

Augustine's reply to men of other religions on the

doctrine of sacrifice should be completed by his teach-

ing on the subject in the City of God which, like the

letter before us, was written for the instruction of

Pagans.In his work on the City of God, Augustine says, that

" a sacrifice is the visible sacrament or sacred sign of an

invisible sacrifice" (Book X. 5). The outward offer-

ing is the symbol of the inward. The outward is not

required for its own sake but for the sake of that which

it symbolises.And here he give,s his famous definition :

" A true

sacrifice is every work which is done that we may be

united to God in holy fellowship, and which has a

1 Letter 138, 7.


reference to that supreme good and end in which alonewe can be truly blessed

"( 6).

Sacrifice can be offered to God alone. Thus, mercyshown to men is not a sacrifice unless it is shown for

God's sake. A life dedicated to God is a sacrifice.

But it is essential to the definition that sacrifice is a

work done in reference to God. The Christian con-

gregation is offered to God as our sacrifice through the

Great High Priest, who offered Himself to God in HisPassion for us. Our Lord offered Himself to God in

the form of a servant. That is to say, it is the Incar-

nation which makes this offering possible. Hence Heis our Mediator, our Priest, our Sacrifice.

Thus Christians are to present themselves as a livingsacrifice.

" This is the sacrifice of Christians : We,being many, are one body in Christ. And this also is

the sacrifice which the Church continually celebrates in

the Sacrament of the Altar, known to the faithful, in

which she teaches that she herself is offered in the

offering she makes to God." l

Thus, then, according to Augustine, the Sacrament of

the Altar is an offering which the Church makes to God.In that offering the Church itself is offered to God.And Christians are to offer themselves. Augustinedistinguishes three things. He distinguishes betweenthe offering which the Church makes in the Eucharist,and the offering which is made of the Church itself.

He distinguishes also between the Church being offered

passively, and the faithful offering themselves activelyto God. There is : the offering of the Eucharist,the offering of the Church, and the Church offeringitself to God.

1. If we ask : What is the sacrifice which the Church

continually celebrates in the Sacrament of the Altar ?

the answer clearly must be, it is the Offering of Christ.

2. If we ask : What is meant by the Church being

1 Letter 138, 6.


passively an offering presented to God? the answer is,

that the congregation is regarded as being offered to

the Father by Jesus Christ, Who is our Great HighPriest, and Who offered Himself to God for us in HisPassion. Christ self-identified with the Church offers

the congregation to the Father.

3. If we ask: What is meant by Christians presentingthemselves in Sacrifice to God ? the answer is, that this

offering is not conceived as being something separatedfrom the offering of Christ, but identified with it. Theoffering of ourselves cannot be separated from the

offering of Christ, because our offering can only be madeor accepted on the basis of His.

If the Christian congregation is offered in the

Eucharist to God through the Great High Priest, it is

clear that in Augustine's view Christ's work of makingan offering to the Father is not simply past but con-

tinuous. He is still engaged in priestly and sacrificial

functions now. It is also clear that in Augustine's viewthe offering of one person to God by another personis an essential part of the Christian idea. Christ is

represented as offering His Church to the Father. Butif so there is nothing inconceivable in the converse idea

of the Church offering Christ to His Father. Boththese ideas are based on the principle of self-identification

with others as opposed to the principle of an exclusive

individual isolation.

Briefly, then, by way of summary it may be said that

Augustine1. Employs the term Sacrament in two ways, (i) In

a general and comprehensive sense as a Sacred Sign.

Thus he can say to the Donatists :

" You are with us in

Baptism, in the Creed, and the other Sacraments of the

Lord" (Letter 93). But (2) he also uses the term in a

more restricted and definite meaning. Thus he calls

the Eucharist " the Sacrament" (Letter 98).

2. He understands by the term Sacrament more than


a mere resemblance between the Sign and the ThingSignified. There is an intimate union between outwardand inward. Thus, in Baptism the Water externallymanifests the Sacrament of Grace, while the Spirit

inwardly effects the benefit of Grace.

3. He teaches as a traditional belief that the Eucharist

is an offering or a Sacrifice.

Augustine applies to the Eucharist the term Sacrifice

of Praise, and describes it as being daily offered by the

Universal Church (Letter 26). He applies the sameterm to the Christian Altar as he does to the Jewish

(ibid.).'1

They differ as manifestations of the samesacrificial principle adapted to successive periods of

human history. He speaks of the Sacrament of the

Body of Christ (ibid.). His grievance against the

Donatist schism is that it is"setting up Altar against

Altar"(Letter 43, , 4). With reference to the Eucha-

rist he says that Christ is daily sacrificed (Letter 98, 9,

p. 400). See also Letter 187 on the Presence of God,where Augustine writes " Nosti autem in quo sacrificio

dicatur, Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro"( 21).

Elsewhere he told the congregation assembled to elect

a coadjutor that "it was well that we are able to

transact around His Sacrifice the things which belong to

God "(Letter 213). Thus excommunication is described

as being" removed from the Altar

"(Letter 54, 4,

p. 187). His constant expression is to offer the

Sacrifice.

1 In Augustine's curious Psalm against the Donatists we read,sic fecerunt scissuram, et altare contra altare. The last three

words are constantly repeated.

CHAPTER X

LETTERS ON DIOCESAN AFFAIRS

A BISHOP of the fifth century had much secular

business thrust upon him. Already while Augustinewas no more than a layman in his monastic seclusion at*

Thagaste his fellow-citizens intruded their secular affairs

upon his Scriptural studies (Letter 5). After his

consecration he had constantly to act as an unconven-tional magistrate. Citizens of Hippo brought all sorts

of secular matters before him for decision : matters of

business and matters of property, financial questions,farm and flocks, occupied precious hours and even

days, and distracted him from spiritual considerations

(Letter 33, 5).

Augustine's letters show an enthusiastic belief in the

value of religious communities. He knew of their

existence during his years of wandering at Rome and at

Milan. The monastic ideal contributed by contrast

with his early self-indulgent life to promote his ownconversion. This is recorded in his own Confessions.

Community life was a subject of serious discussion,

during his retirement before Baptism, at the Villa near

Milan. He writes about it to his friend Nebridius

(Letter 10). No sooner was he settled at Thagaste than

he converted his house into a monastery. He did the

same thing at Hippo after his ordination as priest. As

Bishop he still lived in community. But of course the

quiet and seclusion for continuous study was no longer

possible. In a letter to Jerome he says that he can

never emulate the learning of the recluse. His time is

301


absorbed in giving popular instruction. But he did his

utmost to encourage the monastic institutions. It washe who introduced Monasticism into Africa. His ownmonastery at Hippo became remarkable for the numberof bishops which it trained for the Church. It has beencalculated that at least twelve African bishops received

their training in Augustine's House. Of these the best

known was his friend Evodius, who, like Augustine,promoted monastic life after he became bishop (Letter

158, 10), and his biographer Possidius. The vocation

of the monk was widely different from that of the

, priest ;and Augustine, in his letters, speaks hesitatingly

on converting the former into the latter (Letter 60).Still it is evident that priesthood was the destiny of

many in his own monastery ;and their training in this

direction was apparently deliberate. Probably the

urgent requirements of the African Church led Augus-tine to feel that the monastery must be a seminary for

clergy. His own mind on the subject is clearly shownin a Letter (48) written as early as 398 to AbbotEudoxius in the island of Capraria.There he writes very wistfully of the blessedness of

peaceful seclusion and uninterrupted devotion;and

contrasts their life with his own, wounded and weakenedin the mists and tumult of other people's secular affairs,

in which they compel him to go a mile and he is boundto go with them twain. He is so busy that he can

scarcely breathe.

Nevertheless he exhorts the monks that if their

Mother the Church calls them to active service theymust neither accept it too eagerly nor decline it throughindolence. They have no right to prefer their own ease

to the claims of the Church. If other men had acted onthat principle, the monks' own spiritual life would havebeen impossible. On the other hand Augustine felt at

times that the monastic life did not always provide asuitable training for the priesthood. Its entire ideal

was so different. A man might be an excellent monk

LETTERS ON DIOCESAN AFFAIRS 303

and yet wholly unsuited for the labours of a priest

(Letter 60).Monasteries existed in Thagaste, Carthage and Hippo.

There were also Communities of Women. Over one ofthese Augustine's sister had presided, and the Bishopdrew up regulations for the religious.A landowner named Publicola sent Augustine

1 awhole series of cases of conscience for the Bishop to

solve. Some eighteen problems are propounded.Publicola was no stranger to Augustine. But the tonein which he writes is quaint. He insists that the Bishopmust give him a definite, precise decision. He must onno account leave anything undecided. For if the Bishopreplies doubtfully Publicola will be thrown into worse

perplexities than those which afflicted him before hewrote.

The sort of problems which troubled Publicola are

those which were created by commercial relations

between the Latin colonists and the original natives of

Africa. The natives were the carriers of the period.

They protected the crops. They brought down goodsand merchandise and corn from the interior to the towns

upon the coast. Or they acted as guards to solitarytravellers. All this was the ordinary and more or less

irregular system. It was the custom of the colonists

to make the natives swear fidelity on such occasions.

And of course the natives took an oath by their Pagandeities.

Now it was this Pagan oath which disquieted the

conscience of Publicola. He was evidently a thoughtful,conscientious and scrupulous person. He understands

that the managers of his estates have followed the usual

practice of exacting an oath of fidelity from the natives

employed" in protecting his crops. Publicola desires to

know whether this Pagan oath does not contaminate

both the crops and their owner. He has in mind

1 Letter 46.


i Cor. x. 28. He inquires whether it is right for a

Christian to accept the service of Pagans on such terms.

Augustine's answer lis, that a Christian who accepts

the service of a Pagan who pledges himself by his false

gods, does not participate in the falseness of the man's

religion but in the goodness of his faith.

Another of Publicola's cases of conscience was the

instance of participation in food offered to idols.

Augustine in reply does little more than repeatS. Paul's direction to the Corinthians. He points out

that anything like wholesale prohibition would lead to

the inference that it was wrong for S. Paul to take food

in Athens seeing that the whole city was dedicated to

Minerva, and wrong for us to use the light of the sun

because it was the object of Pagan worship.Publicola further raised the question whether it was

lawful for a Christian to kill any one in self-defence.

Ought he to act literally on the maxim," Resist not evil

"?

May he put a wall for defence round his own property ?

Suppose he does so, and another person utilises this wall

as a means to kill an enemy, is the builder responsiblefor homicide?

Augustine in reply does not approve of a privateindividual killing any one in self-defence

;but appears

to except the soldier or the public official. This distinc-

tion seems to commend itself to Augustine (i) partly on

the ground that the public official is defending others

rather than himself, and (2) also because he is actingunder lawful authority.

This was written in 398. Augustine had previouslydiscussed this subject at considerable length in his

dialogues On Free Will, published in 395.2

As to the injunction," Resist not evil," Augustine held

that it was intended to prohibit revenge ;but not to

prevent us from restraining other people from sin. On

1 Letter 47.2 See De Libero Arbitrio I., II., ff. Works, Tom. I. p. 935.


these principles Publicola's cases of conscience are to bedetermined. A Christian has every right to protect his

property by a wall. He is not responsible if a personis killed while attacking it. Augustine held that aChristian is not guilty of homicide though his ox maygore a man, or his horse kick a man, so that he dies. Toargue otherwise would require that a Christian pro-prietor's oxen should have no horns, and his horses nohoofs, and his dogs no teeth. He must neither have a

rope nor a tree lest some one should hang themselves bythem, nor a window to his house lest any one shouldthrow themselves down by it.

One more example of Publicola's cases of consciencedeserves repeating : What if a traveller, exhausted byprivation, came upon a deserted Pagan Temple wherefood was placed, and no other food could be found, andno other human being was near : ought he to take that

food or die of hunger?Augustine's answer has the virtue of conciseness :

l

" Either it is certain that this food was offered to the

idol, or it is certain that it was not, or neither of these

things is known. If it is certain, it is better to reject it

with Christian fortitude. In either of the other alterna-

tives, it may be used for his necessity without anyconscientious scruple."

Augustine gives this problem : What to do with idol

offerings, an extremely practical application by dwellingon a Christian duty when permission has been given for

the destruction of temples and images. Our taking partin the demolition proves our abhorrence of these idola-

tries Nevertheless a Christian must decline to appro-

priate the spoils to his own private use. His motives

must be above suspicion. It must be unquestion-

ably that he is prompted by religion and not byavarice.

This warning was peculiarly appropriate at the tifne

1 Letter 47, 6


when it was given, since recent laws of the Empireallowed or ordered the destruction of Pagan Temples.About the year 404 a dreadful scandal occurred in

Augustine's Monastery. A priest accused a deacon of

inciting him to immorality. Whereupon the deaconmade a similar charge against his accuser. There wasno evidence beyond the assertions of the two. Augus-tine suspected the deacon of retaliating by a false chargeagainst his accuser. Accordingly Augustine refused to

ordain him priest. The deacon then grew furious, andclaimed that if ordination to priesthood was refused himas a suspected person, neither ought the priest to beallowed to continue to exercise his office. The priestwas willing to consent to this. Meanwhile the affair

became public property. Then Augustine wrote a

letter l about it to the brethren, the clergy, the elders

and the whole people of the Church of Hippo. He tells

them of his perplexity. He is unable to discover the

truth. But he has sent them both to the tomb of

S. Felix of Nola. Not indeed that God is not in everyplace, but certain places have more awe-inspiring asso-

ciations than others. And he has seen at Milan a thief,

who intended to perjure himself, so overcome at the tombof certain Saints that he made confession of his theft.

Doubtless there are tombs of the martyrs in Africa, but

Augustine is not aware of similar occurrences in his owncountry.

2

So then the priest and the deacon have gone upontheir pilgrimage. Augustine awaits results. Mean-while he has not struck off the priest's name from the

list of clergy. He has left the matter to the judgmentof God. He may not anticipate the Divine decision.

Moreover a Council of Carthage (in 387) ruled that no

clergyman might be suspended from Communion before

his guilt had been proved, except he refused to present%

1 Letter 78, A. D. 404.2 Instances are given in Benedict XIV. De Synode Diacesana,

L. IV. cap. vi.


himself for trial. Augustine adds that the priest in

question has humbly and freely consented to go withoutletters of commendation, so that his priestly office will

not be known. If the Church at Hippo thinks that his

name ought not to be read in the lists, they must act

accordingly. But Augustine will not take the initiative.

At the same time, whether a man's name is omittedfrom a list in Church is indifferent so long as a guiltyconscience does not erase his name from the Book of Life.

Augustine then draws the moral from the thought of

slander and calumny.1 He dwells also on the unreason-

able inferences which the world is always ready to drawfrom a Christian's fall.

"They that sit in the gate speak

against me, and the drunkards make songs upon me."

As soon as any bishop or clergyman or monk or nun has

fallen, the world generalises and maintains that all the

whole class are just as bad, the only difference beingthat they are not found out. Yet with a glaring incon-

sistency the world declines to generalise in this wayabout a scandal in ordinary social life. If a married

woman is proved unfaithful the inference is not drawnthat all married women, wives and mothers, are no

better. Human nature finds malicious pleasure over

the fall of any person who makes a profession of

religion.It seems that some time previously two deacons who

had been reconciled from the Donatist Communion had

fallen into sin. And this was criticised as a proof of the

weakness of religious discipline among the Donatists.

Augustine hears that in the present instance some of

his people are particularly upset because they are now

deprived of the boast that the Catholic discipline under

Augustine is superior to that of the Donatists. Augus-tine gently reproves his people for this.

" Howeverwatchful the discipline of my house may be," writes

Augustine,"

I am but a man and live among men." He

1 Letter 78, 5.


does not pretend that his house is better than the Ark of

Noah, in which among eight persons one was found a

castaway ;or better than the apostolic Twelve, among

whom one was a traitor.

He gives it as his deliberate estimate of the Com-munity life that, as he had hardly found any men better

than those who have done well in monasteries, so hehad not found men worse than monks who have fallen.

To them applies the apostolic sentence :

" He that is

righteous, let him be still more righteous ;and he that

is filthy let him be still more filthy." But if failures

could be found, there was a much larger proportion onthe other side.

The letter to Victorin x deals with questions of eccle-

siastical precedent in the assembling of provincialcouncils. Victorin was a bishop. He is addressed byAugustine as Father Victorin and as fellow-priest :

priest being the usual designation of a bishop. Victorin

had summoned Augustine to attend a Council. It wasthe year 401. Augustine was unable to attend throughillness. But he has criticisms to make about Victorin's

letter. For it included a summons to the Bishops of

Mauritania. Now the Province of Mauritania had its

own Primate, who of course was the proper person to

summon his colleagues to a Council. Moreover, the

order of the Bishops of the Province of Numidia, to

which Augustine belonged, was wrongly given. Hisown name appearing higher in the list (namely, third)than he has any right to claim. Besides, BishopXantippus claims to be the Primate of Numidia

;and is

accustomed to issue summonses to Councils. Yet in

Bishop Victorin's letter the name of Xantippus is left

out. These anomalies create a suspicion in Augustine'smind that the letter purporting to be issued by BishopVictorin must be a forgery. Meanwhile he begs Victorin

to settle the question of precedence between himself and

1 Letter 59.


Bishop Xantippus ; so that the Church may know whichof the two is the proper person to summon the Bishopsof the Province to a Council. The letter concludeswith a note that Augustine has sealed it with a ringrepresenting the profile of a man.The relation of the monk to the priesthood was

already raising problems in the year 401. Two monkshad left a religious community which was under Augus-tine's care and were claiming admission to the priest-hood. 1

Aurelius, Bishop of Carthage, wrote to Augustineabout them. Augustine feels bound to maintain that

those who have deserted their calling as monks oughtnot to be placed among the clergy. To do this would

provoke the criticism of the laity. There is a proverbwhich says,

" a poor flute-player makes a good singer"

(Malus choraula bonus symphoniacus est). There wouldsoon be another proverb to the effect that " a bad monkmakes a good cleric." This would grievously discredit

the clergy. The truth is that a good monk rarely makesa good cleric. He does not possess the necessary

qualifications.

Bishop Aurelius was evidently under the impressionthat these two monks had left the monastery with

Augustine's approval. But this was not the case.

Augustine had resisted their restlessness with all his

power, but in vain. One of the two had already obtained

ordination. As to the other, Augustine leaves the matter

to Aurelius's wisdom, to act as he may judge best for

the interests of the Church.

Further ecclesiastical irregularities are reported to have

occurred within Augustine's own diocese. The rule of

restricting a bishop's authority to his own diocese was

in somewhat fluid state in the beginning of the fifth

century.2 A certain reader, Timothy, was ordained a

sub-deacon at Sulsana, in the diocese of Hippo, against

Bishop Augustine's advice and desire. Augustine

1 Letter 60.* Letter 63.


complains of this irregularity, but admits that it cannotbe undone. The only question was whether Timothy still

belonged to the diocese of Hippo. Augustine held that

since he had been a reader in that diocese he belongedto it, and must not be encouraged by another bishop to

transfer himself to another diocese.

It was clearly understood in the early fifth centuryand ruled by Canons x that a priest suspendedfrom Communion by his own bishop could not be re-

ceived into Communion in any other diocese until hewas reconciled. Augustine considers this as a matterof course in his dealing with Quintian, a priest of the

diocese of Carthage, whom his bishop, Aurelius, had

suspended from Communion. Quintian wrote to Augus-tine proposing to pay a visit to Hippo. Augustinebelieved the priest to be innocent, but replied that hecould not be received into Communion while suspendedby his own Diocesan. Augustine has written to Aure-lius in Quintian's behalf. But he cannot possibly write

to Quintian's own congregation, as the priest desires

him to do. If they write to him Augustine can reply."But," asks Augustine,

" how could I put myself forwarduninvited to write to a people not committed to mycare?"

There is, however, one matter on which Augustinewill venture in this present letter to warn Quintian. Lethim not scandalise the Church by reading in service

writings which the Canon of the Church does not

acknowledge. Augustine knows that incalculable mis-

chief has been done that way by the Manichaeans.

Quintian had warned Augustine not to receive into

his monastery persons who came from Quintian's neigh-bourhood. Such practice was forbidden by the Canons.

Augustine replies that he wonders how Quintian can

appeal to the Canons when he himself ignores their

ruling about books which may be read in church.

1 Letter 64.


In the Synod at Hippo held in 393, which was aCouncil of great importance for the whole African

Church, and over which Aurelius, the Archbishop of

Carthage, presided, it was ruled that "besides theCanonical Scriptures, nothing shall be read in the Churchunder the title of Divine Writings."

1

Augustine calls on Quintian to read the decisions of

this Council carefully, and there he will find that the

rule about not receiving persons from another dioceserefers to clergy only and not to laymen. The rule doesnot mention monasteries. What it says is that' no

strange cleric may be received. In a more recent Synod(i.e. that held at Carthage, September 13, A.D. 401. See

Hefele, II. 423) it was definitely resolved that a bishopmay not ordain a monk from a strange monastery (i.e.

a ir.onastery belonging to another diocese), nor may hemake him the superior of his own monastery (Canon 14).

As to the particular case which Quintian has in mind,that of a layman named Privatian, Augustine has not

received him into his monastery, but has referred the

case to Bishop Aurelius, and will abide by his decision.

Augustine shows profound anxiety2 that the Church

should never be accused of a mercenary spirit. A certain

priest, Honoratus, died and a dispute arose about his

property. It was claimed by the monastery of Thagaste,on the ground that the deceased had been a monk there.

It was also claimed by the Church of Thiave, on the

ground that he had been their priest. Alypius, Bishopof Thagaste, was willing that the Church of Thiave should

have half. Augustine considers that the return of half will

make it appear that the anxiety of Churchmen was onlyabout the money. This will set the monastery in a

false light. Augustine proposes that in future those

who enter a monastery should relieve themselves of all

temporal interests before they are received. This will

1 Canon 36. Hefele, II. 400- En gl- Tr -

2 Letter 83.

3 i2 THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

acquit the Community from any sordid suspicions.With regard to the property of a priest it should belongafter his death to the church where he was ordained.

In a severe letter of rebuke to a young bishop,1 his

son in the faith, who had been living in a worldly and

extravagant manner, Augustine refuses to hold com-munion with him. The young bishop had been success-

ful in winning people to the Church, but was now alien-

ating more than he had won Augustine's independentaction towards another bishop is noteworthy. He says"

it cannot be that any bishop whatsoever of the Catholic

Church should cease to be my colleague, so long as hehas not been condemned by any ecclesiastical tribunal."

Nevertheless he refuses to hold communion with him so

long as the young bishop persists in worldly ways.In a letter to Pope Caelestine, in 423, Augustine relates

some of the troubles of his diocese.2 It throws some

light on the extent of the diocese of Hippo. There wasa town called Fussala, situated some forty miles from

Hippo, and on the borders of the diocese. It wasunder Augustine's charge. There had never been a

bishop presiding there. The people were nearly all

Donatists. The clergy whom Augustine sent to workthere were brutally treated, beaten, blinded, murdered

by the ferocious fanatics of the Sect. But in the endconversion of the people to Catholicism was secured.

Augustine accordingly looked out for a priest whoknew the Punic speech, and found one suited for the

work. The Primate of Numidia arrived to consecrate

him, but for some reason unknown the Bishop-electwithdrew and refused consecration. Augustine was in

great perplexity. Anxious not to give the aged Primatea long and fatiguing journey to no purpose, anxious also

to carry into effect his scheme of making Fussala a

diocese, he acted impulsively, and put forward a youngreader of his own monastery, not even yet a priest, as

1 Letter 85, A.D. 405.2 Letter 209.


a suitable bishop for the people of Fussala. So the

young reader, Antony, was consecrated.

Unhappily Antony proved most unsuitable to be a

bishop. Serious accusations were made against him :

charges of immorality, which could not be proved ;

charges of rapacious and aggressive conduct, which

appeared to be true.

His case was tried before African Bishops and he was

suspended from office until he had made restitution.

But Bishop Antony appears to have been a person ofmuch plausibility. He insinuated himself into the goodgraces of the Primate who wrote favourably about himto Pope Boniface at Rome. Antony put in an appealto Rome against the African Council which condemnedhim. They had been reluctant to act severely. Theyhad taken into consideration his previous record, his

youth and his inexperience. But he adroitly turned

their leniency against them and charged them with in-

consistency. Either he ought to be allowed to dischargehis episcopal functions, or else he ought to have been

deposed altogether. Pope Boniface had only heard oneside of the case, and was ignorant of the realities. Hewrote, but left the matter undecided. Meanwhile he

died, and his successor Caelestine had to undertake it.

The people of Fussala heard rumours that the decision

of the Holy See was against them, that their youngbishop was to be forced upon them by the authorities of

the State. Consequently those converts to Catholicism

expected to find themselves in a worse condition as

Catholics than when they were members of the sect.

Augustine writes with great earnestness imploringCaelestine not to listen to Antony's representations.The people of Fussala had complained of Augustine to

the Pope, for imposing upon them a Novice insufficiently

tried. And Augustine acknowledges the justice of their

complaint. He is so profoundly grieved by the unhappyresult of his imprudent nomination that he thinks of

resigning his own bishopric ; a course which unless a


satisfactory solution is given at Rome, he shall feel com-

pelled to take.

What answer Pope Cselestine made to these repre-sentations is unknown. It looks as if Bishop Antonywere sent elsewhere.

But in the following year (434) a Council of the

African Bishops was held at Carthage, in which the

subject of Appeals to Rome was considered. The result

of their deliberations was, that a letter was sent to PopeCaelestine desiring him not to accept appeals fromAfrican decisions, whether such appeals were made bypriests or by bishops. They claimed that this was

already settled by the Council of Nicaea. To receive

appeals at Rome was an intrusion .on the rights of the

African Church. 1

Much insight into the life of the primitive Church 2

is given in the account of a singular scene at Hippo in

the Church of Peace in the year 426. Many clergy and

laity were present. Augustine presided. He spoke of

the uncertainties of mortal life and of the different

ages of man He divided human life into the various

stages of infantia, pueritia, adolescentia, juventus, andsenectus? There was no period beyond this. And hehad reached the last of the ages of men.He reminded the people of his experience that a

bishop's death was often followed by disorders and con-

tentions among the people. He quoted the case of the

Church of Milevis, where this had been prevented. Therethe Bishop nominated his successor, and this nominationwas after the Bishop's death carried into effect. There

was, however, one objection to the course which the

Bishop of Milevis had taken. For he only consulted

the clergy and not the laity. Accordingly the laity felt

themselves aggrieved. Augustine was anxious to avoid

this mistake. He, therefore, indicated his desire to a

meeting of clergy and laity together. He informed the

1Hefele, II. 315.

2 Letter 213,3 Cf. p. 297.


assembly that he desired to have the priest Eraclius as

his successor in the bishopric.The people received the Bishop's words with acclama-

tion. They shouted "God be thanked!" "Christ be

praised !

" "Long life to Augustine !

" and repeated theseexclamations over and over again. The highest numberof repetitions recorded was thirty-eight.When quiet was restored Augustine went on to ex-

plain that he was anxious to avoid the error which hadoccurred at his own nomination. He had been conse-

crated Bishop during the lifetime of Valerius, and sharedthe See of Hippo with him. Augustine confesses that

he did not know at the time that this was forbidden bythe Council of Nicaea.

He was, therefore, anxious that what was abnormal in

his own ecclesiastical experience should not be reiterated

in that of his successor. To this the people as before

expressed their ready and vociferous approval.When silence was again secured Augustine explained

that Eraclius was to remain a priest, and to be conse-

crated bishop when the See of Hippo became vacant.

For all practical purposes Augustine was appointingEraclius as what we should now call Archdeacon, with,

however, the right of succession to the Bishopric after

Augustine's death.

Meanwhile by this arrangement Augustine hoped to

secure for himself further time for his writings. He had

already some years previously come to an agreementwith his people that for five days in the week he should

be left to his studies uninterrupted by avoidable intru-

sions. This was especially because the Councils of

Numidia and of Carthage had expressly enjoined uponhim the duty of Scriptural Exposition. The people of

Hippo had readily agreed to this, but they soon failed

to observe their part of the agreement. They invaded

Augustine's studies as persistently as before. He hoped,however, that the nomination of Eraclius, whom in the

Name of Christ he now appointed to be his episcopal


successor, would induce his diocese to allow their Bishopto transfer to another a considerable portion of the burdenof his occupations.

This arrangement was made in the year 426, onlyfour years before Augustine's death.

It should be noticed that the title Servus ServorumDei is claimed by Augustine and applied to himself.1

Augustine in his old age was witness to the misuse

by younger men of episcopal authority. A youthful

bishop named Auxilius had excommunicated Classician

and all his household. This wholesale and indiscrimi-

nating anathema raised some very serious ecclesiastical

and spiritual problems. The days when men acquiescedin the interdict had not yet arrived.2 The action of

Auxilius caused grave offence.' Augustine wrote to

expostulate with the young bishop. Classician had

appealed to him. Augustine was not the young bishop'secclesiastical superior, for the Bishop of Hippo was not

head of the Province. The ecclesiastical divisions of

Africa accorded with the Roman Provincial Adminis-tration. The head of the ecclesiastical Province wasthe See of Carthage. Augustine in his letter to BishopAuxilius asks for justification, either from reason or from

Scripture, for anathematising a son for the sins of his

father. Augustine points out that while a household is

under excommunication no member of it can receive

the washing of regeneration, even although he be in

peril of death. It is the spiritual disaster of dying un-

baptised which terrifies the writer's soul :

" Whatsoever

ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven."Auxilius may be aware of precedents for the excom-

munication of entire families. But perhaps the bishopswho have so acted may be able to give, if asked, an ex-

planation. Augustine confesses that he has never daredto venture on such a course. He is an old man now



and he inquires of one who is young ;he has been a

bishop for many many years, he addresses a bishop whohas scarcely had one short year's experience. He can-not refrain from asking : How it can be just to let the

innocent suffer for the guilty? If Classician is an

offender, that is not his children's fault Why should

they be permitted to perish unbaptised ? But Augustinedoes not even think that Classician himself deserved to

be excommunicated. Augustine thinks it necessary to

warn his colleague that the wrath of man worketh notthe righteousness of God.How deeply this instance of ecclesiastical injustice

moved Augustine's whole soul is clear from his determi-

nation to bring the matter before the Council of the

Province;and if necessary also before the Apostolic

See. It raised the whole problem of the validity of an

unjust excommunication. On this point Augustine's

judgment was certain. He placed it on record in terms

which have taken effect down the centuries.

"One thing I say deliberately as an unquestionabletruth, that if any believer has been wrongfully excom-

municated, the sentence will do harm rather to him who

pronounces it than to him who suffers this wrong. For

it is by the Holy Spirit dwelling in holy persons that

any one is loosed or bound, and He inflicts unmerited

punishment upon no one;for by Him the love which

worketh not evil is shed abroad in our hearts."

This passage was incorporated by the Canonist Gratiari,

who died in 1158, into his work on the Canons of the

Church. There it remained as a warning against the

dangers of the misuse of ecclesiastical power.1

It was not unusual in the fifth century for orphan chil-

dren to be placed under the guardianship of the Church. 2

Several letters of Augustine are concerned with the

guardianship of a girl left by her father when dying in

1 5^Sebastian Berardus. Gratiani Canones, 1757. Tom. IV.

p. 400.2 Letters 252 to 255.


the Church's care. Augustine received letters askinghim to dispose of her in marriage. He has a high sense

of episcopal fatherhood in the Catholic Church. Shemust be placed where she will be a faithful supporterof the Church. At present she wants to enter a Convent,but is too young to have any serious opinions of her ownon the subject. One thing is certain : being a Christian

she can marry no one except a Christian. No Paganneed apply.Most appropriately after this comes Augustine's

teaching on Friendship.1

It is in a letter written to a friend of long standing,but who up to the present had been of a different religion.One of whom Augustine writes "

I had him not, so longas I held him not in Christ." Augustine quotes with

approval Cicero's definition of Friendship :

"Friendship is

loving agreement in things human and divine." Hitherto

Martian and Augustine had often agreed in things

human, but not in things divine. And Augustine is

convinced that friends who do not agree in things divine

cannot have complete and perfect agreement even in

things human. For certainly he who despises thingsdivine regards things human otherwise than he oughtto do. He cannot love a man rightly who loves not

Him Who created man. It is by things divine that

things human are rightly tested. (Cf. Augustine'sremarks on Friendship in the Confessions, Bk. iv. 4. 7.)

1 Letter 258.

CHAPTER XI

LETTERS OF THE CLOSING YEARS

IT has been given to many strenuous lives to close in

a period of peace. This is a privilege which Augustinewas denied.

He had long since been called upon to strengthenthe faith of others whom the deplorable anarchy in

Church and State perplexed.1 In the year before the

Fall of Rome he received a letter from a priest, Victorian,

informing him of the calamities inflicted by the Gothicinvaders on Italy and on Spain. Augustine could but

reply that the whole world had become a scene of

slaughter. Hardly any portion was exempt. Quite

recently even the monasteries in the solitudes of Egypt,chosen expressly for their immunity from strife, hadbeen attacked by barbarians, and the monks had been

murdered. Even here in Hippo, adds the Bishop,where barbarians had not reached, the Donatist Clergyand the Circumcellions have acted worse than barbarians.

But, observes Augustine, these things are predicted.We ought not to believe when they are read of and

complain when they are realised.

After all, he asks, ought Christian people to complainof the Divine discipline ? Are we better than the Three

Children who entered the furnace ? Or better than

Daniel who was so afflicted ? Augustine reminds his

correspondent of the story of the Maccabees. That

story of patriotic faith should be read believingly, and

1 Letter 3, A.D. 409.


taught believingly. So far as it lies in the priest's powerlet him warn men not to murmur against God in tempta-tions and tribulations. Victorian says that good andfaithful servants of God have been slain. Augustineanswers : after all, does it make much difference in whatmanner they died ? Is not the essential thing not in

what circumstances, but with what character, they wentforth to their Lord ?

Here are the lines of thought which Augustine7whenRome had fallen, worked out in the treatise concerningthe City of God.

Augustine had witnessed with his own eyes the

reversals of social position, the overthrow of distinguishedhouses, the ruin of families, the refugees to Africa frombarbaric violence. But now the storm was drawingnearer to his own land. Soon he would be called uponto apply to himself the consolations and the principles

by which he had strengthened others.

Count Boniface was the last of the great militarychiefs in Africa during Augustine's episcopate. Likeall the others he came under the Bishop's influence. ToAugustine the soldier looked for instruction on the state

of African ecclesiastical affairs, and for guidance in

matters affecting his own personal religion. The

important Letter 185, a treatise on the treatment of the

Donatists, dealing with the application of Imperial laws

to African cases, was written for the enlightenment of

Boniface. This was in 417. But the soldier wantedmore than information concerning ecclesiastical condi-

tions. He wanted help about eternal things ; somethingon spiritual themes. The incongruousness of war with

the Christian ideals had roused misgivings at times in

the officer's conscience. He wanted the guidance of

the priest.

Augustine turned immediately from other duties to

respond to the soldier's need.1

1 Letter 189, A.D. 418.

LETTERS OF THE CLOSING YEARS 321

He counsels Boniface to have no misgivings whethera man can please God in the profession of a soldier.

Pie refers to the instance of the Centurion whose faith

Christ commended;and of Cornelius whose alms were

accepted and whose prayers were heard. He remindsBoniface that the advice S. John Baptist gave to the

soldiers who consulted him was not to lay aside their

weapons but to regulate their power.He acknowledges that there were higher missions than

the secular calling : but added that God had endowedindividuals with different gifts. He does not conceal

for a moment his belief in the superiority of the ascetic

life. But each has its place in the social order. Theyfight for you by praying against invisible foes : and youlabour for them by fighting against visible barbarians.

Would that the world were otherwise. But the citizens

of the Kingdom of Heaven are here being proved bytrials.

When, therefore, Boniface prepares for the battle let

him remember that his physical courage is a gift of

God, and then he will not use the gift against its

Giver.

If faith is to be kept even with an enemy againstwhom we fight, how much more with a friend in whose

behalf we are fighting.

Augustine adds to this some thoughts on peace. Theintention of war is peace. War may be inevitable.

But the aim is that God will deliver from its necessity,

and preserve us in peace. For peace does not exist for

the promotion of war, but war is waged for the sake of

peace. Therefore let Boniface be a peacemaker even

in the midst of the strife, and strive simply for the sake

of peace.The thought of temporal peace (pax humana) leads

Augustine to add a word on heavenly peace (pax divina}.

Let Boniface aim at the conquest of himself. It is a

shame if he who cannot be overcome by the swordjs

overcome by passion or by wine. Let him persevere in

x


good actions and in prayer, remembering that human life

on earth is one long temptation ;and let him learn to for-

give others as he himself asks to be forgiven.Boniface knew well the intrigues of the Court and the

moral conditions of the camp. He had himself suffered

from unscrupulous opponents who misrepresented himto the Emperor and did their best to secure his ruin.

There were times when the soldier's spirit revolted in

disgust from the treatment he received. Times also

when the peaceful ideals of the Christian religious life

exercised over him a wonderful fascination. When in

addition to all this, he had the misfortune to lose his

wife a sense of the vanity of all earthly hopes almostoverwhelmed him.

He was resting at the time in a little African town in

company with the Bishops,1Augustine and Alypius.

The three were in quiet familiar conversation. In the

course of it Count Boniface spoke of his longing to bereleased from military occupations and to spend the

rest of his days for the welfare of his soul in somemonastic community of the servants of God.To these proposals of Count Boniface Augustine gave

no encouragement. He strongly dissuaded the Generalfrom adopting any such course. Quite possibly this

was in part because he knew the soldier's character and

regarded the proposal as prompted by an emotional

impulse, a feeling of disgust, and a sense of reaction,which would in all probability vary and pass away.But what determined Augustine's dissuasion was his

profound consciousness of the needs of the Church in

Africa, and indeed of the whole country. Threatenedas it was with invasion of Huns and Vandals, Augustinefelt that Count Boniface could do his age more service

in the army than in the monastery. To lead the Romanforces to victory over these fierce barbarians wouldsecure the whole of the African Church the blessedness

of peace.1 Letter 220, A.D. 427.


Augustine reminded Boniface that perseverance in his

profession need not conflict with the interests of his ownsoul. It was possible to lead an austere self-disciplinedlife in the camp as well as in the monastery. It wasbetter for the larger interests of the Church that thesoldier's personal preference should be sacrificed.

Boniface accepted Augustine's direction. He returnedto the soldier's work : but not to a life of Christian

self-discipline and austerity. His conduct quicklyproved that his aspiration towards monastic life was buta passing emotion of disgust with the world, rather thana real fitness for perpetual devotion and religious self-

surrender. Rumours sadly to Boniface's discredit spreadabroad. He had speedily married again ;

and rumoursaid that to this second marriage he was by no meansfaithful.

Augustine was profoundly grieved. He wrote 1 for

Boniface a letter full of affectionate sympathy, discre-

tion and distress. He says that it is difficult for Boni-

face's friends to be his advisers concerning his soul, not

because they have not the will, but for lack of oppor-tunity. Augustine himself has not been given a suitable

occasion. When Boniface saw him last at Hippo the

Bishop was so exhausted and so ill that he could scarcely

speak. Nor could he venture to write for lack of a

trustworthy messenger. A letter might fall into other

hands than those for whom it was intended.

Then Augustine recalls to the soldier's memory their

conversation on the monastic life : contrasts it with this

second marriage, which, after Boniface's express inten-

tion, ought never to have been entered upon. The Bishopnotes, however, the one relieving fact that Boniface re-

fused to marry the woman until she had become a

Catholic. But, on the other hand, the Count has per-mitted heresy to prevail in his own household so far as

to allow his daughter to be baptised by those who deny

1 Letter 220.


that Jesus is the Son of God. Various other discredit-

able rumours are abroad which Augustine trusts cannotbe true.

However that may be, Boniface is a Christian. Hehas a heart. He fears God. Let him realise what

Augustine is reluctant to inscribe in words. The Bishopimplores the Count in the language of Ecclesiasticus :

" Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord;and put not off

from day 'to day."But there is another cause for deep distress. Augus-

tine had advised the Count to keep to his military

profession because he trusted that the soldier would bethe protector of the African Church and country. Most

unhappily that hope was being frustrated. Boniface, in

his anger at finding himself maligned and distrusted in

Rome, was himself allowing the Vandals to enter Africa.

The Count appears to have taken this course in self-

defence, to secure himself against his opponents in

Ravenna by obtaining allies in Africa. But it was a

desperate and destructive policy. It sacrificed the peaceof Africa to the ambitions of the individual. Augustine'stone is sorrowful, reproachful, pathetic, as he thinks of

the misery which these ferocious hordes are inflicting onhis native land while Count Boniface takes no steps to

avert the calamity.'If Boniface adopts the excuse that the responsibility

for these misfortunes lies with the men who tried to ruin

him, let him remember that he is a Christian, and that

the ultimate question is how it all appears in the sightof God. I speak, says Augustine, to a Christian man.Do not render evil for good or evil for evil. From the

standpoint of worldly success Augustine has no advice

to give. But regarded from the standpoint of Religion,Boniface must consider his own salvation, and lay to

heart the question : What shall it profit a man to

gain the whole world while he injures his own soul ?

Augustine reads him a lesson from I John ii. 15-17:" Love not the world . , ."


It is a beautiful letter in many ways. Full of tact,

consideration, forbearance, delicacy, yet strong in its

lofty principle and its firm rebuke. A man of Boniface's

temperament could not receive such a letter unmoved.It did affect him. That we know. He tried to

remedy the evil he had permitted. But it was one thingto let the barbarians in, another to drive them out.

It is singular to find in the personal names of thefifth century anticipations of forms which have been

commonly regarded as a peculiarity of the Puritanism ofthe seventeenth century. Thus we find a person bearingthe name of What-God-wills ("Quod vult deus").

1

What-God-wills wrote a letter begging Augustine to

compile a dictionary of Heresies, or catalogue of errors

which men have held concerning the Christian Religion.The reply is directed in the following terms :

2 " Au-

gustine, Bishop, to his most beloved son and fellow

deacon What-God-wills." Augustine is not at all dis-

posed to write de omnibus hceresibus. There are alreadyin existence such works as What-God-wills desires

Augustine to compile. There is the book compiled byBishop Philastrius, whom Augustine remembers to havemet at Milan with S. Ambrose. Philastrius numbers

twenty-eight heresies among the Jews before the Incar-

nation and 128 since. Then there is the book by Bishop

Epiphanius, who gives the sum total of the heresies as

eighty. These diversities show how necessary it is to

define the term heresy. And such definition is difficult.

Augustine thinks he had better send a copy of Epipha-nius's book to Carthage in order to 'have it there trans-

lated into Latin. For Epiphanius is the more learned

writer of the two.

What-God-wills was not satisfied with this reply.3

He renewed his request that Augustine should under-

take such a work. He did not consider that works

composed in Greek could meet the case.

1 Letter 221. 2 Letter 222.3 Letter 223.


Augustine thereupon agreed to make the attemptwhen the time of leisure should arrive. 1 But he ex-

plains how many works he has on hand.2

The Vandal invasion of North Africa created manya problem for the panic-stricken Churches. The terror

of the Vandal was felt everywhere. Throngs of peoplefled away from their homes to seek safety and protec-tion in the fortified places. The disappearance of manyof the laity from the Churches affected the clergy also.

They began to ask whether they were bound to remain ?

The Bishop Honoratus wrote to the Bishop Augustinefor his opinion on this.

Augustine replies3 that he has already sent an answer

about it to Bishop What-God-wills. We whose Ministryis necessary to the people of God must say, let God beour protection and our fortified place.

This advice, however, must be blended with the in-

junction,"

if they persecute you in one city flee to

another," also with the example of S. Paul's escape bya window in a basket. Let the ministers of Christ's

Word and Sacraments act in accordance with His orders

or permissions. This applies especially in cases wherethe clergy in particular are the objects of persecution.But when the danger is common to all sections of the

Church (Augustine distinguishes them as three : bishops,

clergy and laity) then those who need the ministryshould not be deserted by them. Either let all alike

take refuge in a fortified place, or if for some of the

laity this is impossible, let the clergy remain and serve

their spiritual needs.

Bishop Honoratus saw no advantage in remaining at

his post. It would only be to witness the sufferings of

others which he could not prevent, and to incur brutal

treatment for himself.

Augustine pointed out that future events were quite

1 Letter 224.* See book De haresibus, Tom. VI.

3 Letter 228.


uncertain, and urged that a certain duty ought not to beabandoned for an uncertain event. It must not be sus-

pected that the clergy were overcome by fear.

At the same time there are cases when flight is per-missible. If the people have fled and no one is left to

be ministered to;or if the ministry can be adequately

fulfilled by others who have not the same reason for

flight ;if persecution is specially directed against par-

ticular clergy, as was the case with Athanasius : underall these circumstances the flight of a priest is permis-sible. While the text about fleeing to another city is

remembered, the warning about the hireling who fleeth

because he careth not for the sheep must never be for-

gotten. There is the awful danger of apostacy amongthose who are deprived of the daily ministry of the

Lord's Body.Augustine points out that periods of calamity are

generally accompanied, when things reach their veryworst, by a revival of religious needs. When no escapefrom death seems possible many people will beg to be

baptised, or to be reconciled, or to be received to peni-tence. All will require consolation and the help of the

Sacraments. If the clergy have fled, think of the awful

consequence to those who die unregenerate and unfor-

given. See what the fear of temporal evils can producewhen it leads men to incur evils which are eternal.

The sailors and the officers must not desert the ship.

They ought to be the last to leave it.

The correspondence between Darius and Augustine1

is another example of the Bishop's influence over dis-

tinguished officers of State. Augustine had never met

Darius, but had corresponded with him. Darius had

rendered signal service to the State by securing a truce

in Africa with the Vandals. The Bishop wrote regret-

ting that weakness and age prevented him from visiting

Darius, but warmly congratulating him on being the

1 Letters 229-231.


providential instrument for averting bloodshed. Darius

replied with expressions of veneration for Augustine's

gifts and character.1 Like Augustine, he is profoundlythankful that war is at any rate postponed, and earnestly

hopes for peace. He has seen some of the Bishop's

writings on various subjects, and asks for a copy of

Augustine's Confessions. He tells Augustine the storyhow King Abgarus of Edessa wrote a Letter to Christ,

and of the reply which the King received. He asks

Augustine to write again ;sends salutations from one

named Verimodus;and sends also certain medicines

valuable for alleviating pain and for the cure of disease

(he does not mention what they were), through the

hands of Lazarus a priest,

Augustine acknowledging this letter has much to sayon human praise. He is by no means insensible to the

increasing influence which his writings acquire throughthe distinguished statesman's support. Darius belongedto a family whose traditions had been Christian for some

generations, yet he has come to understand the Paganreligion through Augustine's criticisms upon it as henever understood it before. This may very likely be a

reference to the great work on the City of God. Augus-tine then sends his Confessions, accompanying the gift

with the following words :

2

"Accept the book containing my Confessions. . . .

In these behold me that you may not praise me beyondwhat I am. In these believe what is said of me, not

by others, but by myself. In these contemplate me,and see what I have been in myself by myself. Andif anything in me please you, join me, because of it, in

praising Him to Whom, and not to myself, I desire

praise to be given. For He hath made us and not weourselves : indeed, we had destroyed ourselves, but HeWho made us has made us anew. When, however, youfind me in these books, pray for me that I may not fail,

1 Letter 230.2 Letter 231. Cunningham's translation.


but be perfected. Pray, my son, pray. I feel what I

say; I know what I ask."

Augustine goes further than Darius requested andsends other of his writings, including his works on Faithin things not seen, on Patience, on Self-control, on

Providence, as well as the Enchiridion on Faith, Hopeand Charity.

In a letter written in the closing period of his life 1

the great theologian is found engaged in the final re-

vision of his writings. The result appeared in his

Retractations. This was not a recantation but a recon-

sideration. Until this task was undertaken Augustinedid not realise how many works he had composed. Hefinds the number to be 232, excluding Letters andSermons.

Meanwhile the prospect darkened. The Vandal in-

vasion was turning North Africa into a wilderness.

The news was constantly of increasing and unrelieved

disaster. Hippo was crowded with refugees who bore

terrible witness to barbaric cruelty. Augustine's letters

will not guide us any more. We find the sequel in

the pages of his faithful companion Bishop Possidius.

Churches were burnt, convents ravaged, clergy slain.

Then amid the universal desolation stood out three

strongly fortified places : Carthage, Cirta and Hippo.Count Boniface's old success entirely deserted him.

Finally, he took refuge behind the walls of Hippo, the

last entrenchment possible between the enemy andthe sea.

Augustine's last outlook on the prospects of the

African Church must have been heartrending. For

forty-one years this greatest of theologians had con-

centrated all his brilliant powers in building up and

blending together the discordant elements of that

afflicted and divided portion of the Catholic Church.

And now he gazed on the sorrowful wreck and ruin of

1 Letter 225.


all his work. Yet with these crushing facts before his

eyes we are assured that there escaped him no utterance

of despair. It was a Divine retribution on a people'smisdeeds.1 "

Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and true is

Thy judgment." Salvian says that the Franks were

liars, but they were hospitable; the Saxons cruel, but

they reverenced a woman;of the Africans he has no

redeeming word to say. An African was a synonymfor immorality.

2

Augustine preached continually to the crowds within

the besieged city,3 while the numbers gradually thinned

by disease and death. He laboured to provide for the

wants of the destitute refugees.Then he retired from works of charity to the Bishop's

House. And there he wrote his last word in defence of

the doctrine of Grace.

He threw himself earnestly into an elaborate refu-

tation of the Pelagian theories of Julian of Eclanum,the ablest opponent of the Church's faith. He wrote

with extraordinary acuteness, and with all the force of

matured dialectic skill, a work which bears no trace

of the agitated conditions surrounding the aged writer's

dwelling. It might have been composed in the studious

quiet of some uninvaded solitude rather than in the

perils and commotion of a siege. The only sign of

trouble is that it was left a mere fragment of his full

intentions. This concentration sprang from no insensi-

bility, but from the wonderful detachment of his religiousnature.4

Then, having gone as far as circumstances would

allow, he laid the unfinished work aside and turned his

judgment within. This had been his custom all along.Never since his conversion had the inner life become

neglected.His biographer says that Augustine would often recall

1 Possidius. 2 De Gub. Dei. 7. 15. 64.3 Baronius Annals, A.D. 428.4 See the Chronicle of Prosper of Aquitaine.


the words of Ambrose, whose character and influence

were among the most sacred associations of his life.

He would describe how when the great Archbishop of

Milan lay dying, and his friends entreated, him to pleadfor a longer extension of life, he answered :

"I have not

so lived that I need be ashamed to continue amongyou : but neither am I afraid to die, for our Lord is

merciful."

As the siege of Hippo advanced Augustine had fore-

bodings of his own decease." You know," he said to

them one day at table," that 1 have besought God in

this time of our misfortune, either to free this city from

the besieging hosts; or, if it please Him otherwise,

either to make His servants strong to bear His will, or

to release me from this world and take me to Himself."

And, so saying, he taught them all to pray that it

might be so.

Arid when the third month of the siege began, he fell

sick of fever and his strength faded away. And as he

lay in the illness from which he was not to recover, he

prayed with fervent intercessions for that city where

he had lived in all simplicity for forty-one years. Andwhen his people knew that he was dying they insisted

that certain possessed with mental infirmity should be

brought to his bedside;that he should place his hands

upon them, and pray that they might recover : a prayerwhich they say was granted.

But the end was near. He now begged to be left

alone in his chamber, uninterrupted except at the neces-

sary visits of his physician and at the intervals of taking

food. There alone with God Augustine prepared himself

for death. He ordered the Penitential Psalms to be

written out in large characters and hung upon the wall

beside his bed. And so he spent the last days of his

infirmity, reading those outpourings of a repentance

like his own, repeatedly, and with many tears. So

passed the closing ten days of his career. He died, at

the age of seventy-six, in the presence of the Community


which he had created. Possidius says he made no will :

for he had no property to leave, with the sole exceptionof his library and his writings, which he committed to

the keeping of the Church.

Augustine's life was mercifully ended before his cityfell. After holding out for fourteen months, CountBoniface eventually escaped by sea, leaving the unhappycity to destruction by the victorious Vandals. Baron ius

lays much stress on the fact that Augustine's librarywas preserved during the sack of Hippo. Consideringthat the besiegers were Arians, the escape of Augustine'sbooks from the flames is little less than marvellous.

Such was the condition in which the last Bishop of

Hippo, the greatest teacher in Christendom since the

Apostles, passed away.

INDEX

I. SUBJECTS/ELIAN, proconsul at Carthage, 79African character, 261-2

Altare, 88, 280

Ambrose, 15, 69, 95Anthropomorphic, 69Apollonius of Tyana, 51

Apostolic Chair, 89Apuleius, 15

Arianism, 63Athanasius, 15

Augustinechanges of opinion, 9, 10

letters, subjects treated in, 10-12

, recipients of, 12, 21

his place among contemporaryBishops, 13, 14

authors quoted by Pagan, 14

by Christian, 15

,, ,, by Apocryphal,16, 17

his ordination, 29, 30as a preacher, 37, 39his consecration, 41Doctrine of Grace, 131 ff.

and Jerome, 216, 254

Augustine's writings, referencesto

Contra litt. Petit., 43City of God, 48, 59, 70, 71, 155,

297Sermon 150, 53

Against Cresconius, 98, 101

De Gestis cum Emerito, 98De Libero Arbitrio, 131, 196, 304De Gratia et lib. arbitr., 134, 169Retract, 136, 329Contra Julian., 137De natura et gratia, 137, 151,

156The Spirit and the Letter, 144,

157, I7iDe Peccat. Remissione, 151Literal interpretation of Genesis,

I55 i?iDe Gestis Pelagii, 156On Correction and Grace, 173,

182

On the Trinity, 71, 195On the Psalms, 225

and his coadjutor, 314, 315Popes,

87,91

Baptism, 103relations with the Popes", 22, 82, of Infants, 154, 290-94

of the Apostles, 96, 258of Christ, 72, 73

Biblical exposition, 185-215Boniface (Count), 320-25

allegorising tendency, 69and authority, 69on the Resurrection-Body, 70

Augustine's writings, references

to

Soliloquies, 25, 26, 27, 225Confessions, 29, 34, 35, 37, 43,

59, 131. 133. l8 5> 192, 3OI >

318, 328De Beaia Vita, 35De Vera Religione, 36, 196, 198

Caecilian (Bishop of Carthage), 78,

79,88Carefor the Dead, 33

Carthage (Bishops of), 97

Cassian, 76

Casuistry, 303-5Catholic, 1 86

333

334 INDEX

Celestius, 140, 145Ceremonial, 288, 289Church, at Hippo, 31-37

and State, 90Cicero, 14, 52, 54Circumcellions, 40, 79, 102

Coercion, 79, 104, 105, 107, 113,116

Communion, fast before, 281-7Communities, of women, 273-4

,of men, 303, 306-8

Community Life, 34, 35Conference at Carthage, no, 118,

119Constantine (Emperor), 78, 88Constantine (Cirta), capital of Nu-

midia, 99Council, at Rome (313), 79

at Aries (314), 88-93at Carthage (326), 80at Nicsea, 41-2at Carthage (416), 148at Milevis (416), 148, 149at Diospolis, 143, 150, 151,

159,at Trent, 131

Creationism, 74> 161

Crispin, 101

Cyprian, 15

Demetrius, 271Democritus, 54Desolation (cry from the Cross),

187Diocesan affairs, 301-18Diocletian persecution, 77

Diospolis (synod of). See Councils.

Donatists, 76-125, outlines of the controversy,

76-82Donatus (proconsul), 108

(head of Donatists), 78

Duchesne, 141, 227

Ecclesia Africana, 31

Episcopal Succession, 97in Rome, 99

Eschatology, 203-7Eucharist, 276-300

,a sacrifice, 203

Evodius, 70

Excommunication, 316, 317

Felix (of Aptunga), 79Fortunatian, 69Fortunius, 94 ff.

Galatians (dispute between SS. Peter

and Paul), 218 ff.

Grace, doctrine of, 126-84Gratian, 317

Hammond (Definitions of Faith), 41

Heraclian, 119Homoousion, 64Horace, 14

Humility, 53

Incarnation, 56-60, 75

(See also Virgin Birth)Innocent (Pope), I5off.Intermediate state, 211-15

Jerome, 74, 140 ff.

Jews, 59John (Bishop of Jerusalem), 140,

I5 1

Julian, 8 1

Lucilla, 78, 92

Macarius, 76-82, 84, 95 n.

Majorinus, 78, 88

Marinus (Consul), 119Materialistic conceptions of Deity,

68, 69Maximin, 83 ff.

Maximinionists, 78, 97Maximus (Physician), 74Melchiades (Bishop of Rome), 88,

90, 92Mensurius, 77, 78Ministries, 190-1Monks and priests, 307

Nature and grace, 74

Optatus, 8 1, i6of.

Origen, 74, 227, 241

Origin of the soul, 241-54Original sin, 144

Orosius, 74, 141, 142, 244

INDEX335

Pagan, criticisms on Christianity ;

its late arrival, 50mythology, 48

-Scriptures contrasted with

i Christian, 50Temples, destroyed, 49;

closed, 59 ; converted into

churches,

Paganism, 45-62Papal claims, 90, 91-93Pascentius, 64 ff.

Pelagianism, 74, 129-31Pelagius, letter to Demetrius, 126-9

life of, 139-43Persona, 66

Plato, 14

Platonists, 53Plotinus, 14, 54Porphyry, 15, 50Possidius (Bishop of Calama), 101,

329, 330Predestination, 181

Principatus, 88, 89Priscillianists, 74Procopius, 76Proculeian, 85 ff.

Punic names, 46

Regeneration, 144-54Resurrection Body, 70, 207, 208

Reunion, 84, 85, 87, 94Rome, fall of, 243, 263

Rufinus, 241

Sabbath and Sunday, distinction

between, 276-81Sacrament, 299Sacrifice, 293-8

of Eucharist, 298Secundus (Bishop of Tigisis), 91Seneca, 117Soul (see Origin of), 74Spirits in prison, 197, 202Succession. See Episcopal.Swete, Professor, Essays on Churchand Ministry, 82

Terence, 14Tertullian, 161

Tradition, "non scripta sed Tra-

dita," 282

Traducianism, 161

Trinity, 63-76

Valerius (Bishop), 85Validity, 82, 103Virgin Birth, 55, 56, 62, 66, 152,

162, 186, 195, 198

Virgins, Parable of, 188Vision of God, 266-70

War and Peace, 321Women, letters to, 255-75

Zosimus (Pope), 160

II. AUGUSTINE'S CORRESPONDENTS

Alypius (Bishop), Letter 29, p. 37-40; L. 83, p. 311

Apringius, L. 134, p. 113Aurelius (Bishop), L. 22, p. 31 ;

L. 41, p. 43 ;L. 60, p. 309

Auxilius (Bishop), L. 250, p. 316

Benenatus, L. 253, 254, p. 317Boniface (Bishop), L. 98, p. 290-2

(Count), L. 185, p. 121-5

Caecilian (statesman), L. 151,

p. 1 20Caslestine (Pope), L. 209, p. 312-

14

Casulan, L. 36, p. 276-80Catholics of Hippo, L. 78, p. 306-7Consentius, L. 119, 120, p. 67;

L. 205, p. 207-9

Dardanus, L. 187, p. 201-2

Deogratias (Priest), L. 102, p. 50,

295-6.Deuterius (Bishop), L. 236, p. 62

Dioscorus, L. 118, p. 52Donatists, L. 105, p. 169 ;

L. 141,

p. inDonatus (Proconsul), L. 100, p.

109(Priest), L. 173, p. 119

336 INDEX

Ecdicia, L. 262, p. 255Emeritus (Donatist), L. 87, p. 101

Evodius, L. 158, p. 192; L. 159,

p. 193; L. 161, p. 195; L. 162,

p. 198; L. 164, p. 199-201 ; L.

169, p. 71-4

Fabiola, L. 267, p. 274.

Felicitas, L. 210, 21 1, p. 273Felix, L. 252, p. 317Festus, L. 89, p. 102-4Florentina, L. 266, p. 260

Florentinus, L. 232, p. 59P'ortunatian (Bishop), L. 148, p. 69

Generosus, L. 53, p. 99-100Genethlius, L. 51, p. 97Glorius (and others), L. 43, p. 87-

93 5 L. 44, p. 94-6

Hesychius, L. 199, p. 203-6Hilary, L. 157, p. 143-8Honoratus, L. 140, p. 185-9

Innocent (Pope), L. 175, 176, p.

148

Januarius (Donatist Bishop), L. 88,

p. 101

Januarius, L. 54, p. 281-7 5L. 55, p.

287-9Jerome, L. 28, p. 217 ; L. 40, p.

221 ; L. 71, p. 123 ; L. 73,

p. 225 ;L. 76, p. 232 ;

L. 82,

p. 234-9 ;L. 1 66, p. 244-8 ; L.

167, p. 248John (Bishop of Jerusalem), L. 179,

P- J 5i

Juliana, L. 188, p. 271-2

Licentius, L. 26, p. 34Longinian, L. 133, 134, 135, p.60- 1

Macedonius, L. 152, p. 114 ;L.

153, P- II5-7; L- I53> 154, I55

p. 118

Marcellinus, L. 138, p. 209, 296-8 ;

L. 129, p. in ; L. 139, p. 113,211

;L. 143, p. 210-14

Martian, L. 258, p. 318

Maxima, L. 264, p. 258Maximin (Donatist Bishop) L. 23,

P- 83-4Maximus, L. 16, p. 46 ;

L. 17,

p. 47 ;L. 170, p. 74-5

Nebridius, L. 3-14. p. 24-9 ; L. n,P- 63

Nectarius, L. 91, p. 48

Optatus (Bishop), L. 190, p. 249-51 ; L. 202, p. 252

Pascentius, L. 238, p. 63-5 ;L.

239, p. 66

Paulina, L. 147, p. 267-70Paulinus (Bishop of Nola), L. 24,

p. 33 ;L. 27, p. 36 ; L. 31, p.

41 ;L. 149, p. 190; L. 186, p.

33, 156-60Paulus (Bishop), L. 85, p. 312Peter and Abraham, L. 184 B, p.

154Pinianand Melania, L. 124, p. 260 ;

L. 126, p. 262

Proba, L. 130, p. 264-7Procopius and Cylinnius (Bishops),

L. 219, p. 76Proculeian (Donatist Bishop), L.

33> P- 85Profuturus (Bishop), L. 38, p. 43

Publicola, L. 46, p. 303 ;L. 47, p.

304-5

Quintian, L. 64, p. 310

Rusticus, L. 255, p. 317

Sapida, L. 263, p. 257Seleuciana, L. 265, p. 258Severus, L. 62, 63, p. 309Sixtus (Priest), L. 191, p. 163 ; L.

194, p. 163-7

Valentinus (Abbot), L. 214, p. 168

Valerius (Bishop), L. 21, p. 29-31Victorian (Priest), p. 319Victorin (Bishop), L. 59, p. 308Vincent, L. 93, p. 104-8Vitalis, L. 217, p. 178-81, 316Volusian, L. 135, 136, 137, p. 55-8

in C,rtat Britain by R Clay & Sons, Lid., Lonaon and Bungay

BR 65 .A79 S5 1919 IMSSparrow-Simpson, W. J.The letters of St. Augustine47090668

Q* M: L STUDIOS

Letters of Augustine of Hippo

Documents

Transcript of Letters of Augustine of Hippo